As communities across the country deal with rising waste levels and shrinking landfill space, Mars High School students took a field trip to look at improved recycling programs that could play a crucial role in cutting down pollution and reducing long-term costs.
The field trip was organized by science teacher Mr. Black and art teacher Mrs. Sloane and the aim of the trip was to educate students on the recycling process.
Stop 1: Learning Landfill Innovation
Students first went to the Seneca Landfill, where an educational tour was given that went over how the landfill deals with methane emissions.
Seneca is unique in that the landfill converts its methane emissions into usable fuel for Vogel trucks.
“Just seeing the technology the Seneca Landfill uses to trap methane gas at such a large scale was amazing,” said Black.
The School’s Recycling Mission
All of the schools in the district have been updating exit signs from red to green, leaving a lot of garbage from the old exit signs.
High school Nurse Baysek, alongside students, has been sorting piles to be recycled.
“There were several garbage bins filled with pieces of the exit signs and we broke down each sign into very specific categories so that they could be recycled instead of just being thrown away,” said student helper junior Brooke Bender.
Stop 2: Creative Reuse and E-Cycling
A second stop and key part of the field trip was dropping off the exit signs at Haul E-Cycle, Construction Junction, and Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse.
Students were able to see how materials can be reused for creative and construction purposes.
“I liked shopping around and seeing how things can be reused instead of just being thrown away,” said junior Charlotte Haggerty.