Where Does My Trash Go?

You and your family have just finished your big holiday picnic. As you clear off the table, you toss your uneaten food, paper napkins and cups, and plastic utensils into the trash can. Have you ever wondered where that trash goes?

Every Californian generates approximately 6 pounds each of trash per day! There’s everything from paper, uneaten food, construction leftovers, cut grass, plastic, glass, metal, old batteries, computers, phones, and tons of other "stuff." That’s a lot of trash to process everyday. What happens to that trash once it gets thrown away?

The trash from your garbage can gets picked up by your local waste management facility--"garbage collector"--and then (in some cases depending on where you live) makes its way to a "materials recovery facility (MRF)" to be sorted. MRFs can sort trash in a variety of ways. They can do it robotically using a conveyer belt that sorts trash by weight. They can also use workers to sort the trash by hand, putting different items into different bins. MRFs sort out the reusable and recyclable materials that accidentally get put into the trash can, like plastic bottles and glass. If you live in an area that does not have a MRF then you can help by sorting your own recyclables and bagging them separately, so your garbage collector can recycle as much as possible. Be sure to call and check with your local government to find out what type of recycling is available in your area.

The things that can be used again are then taken to recycling facilities. Just imagine, the plastic water bottle that you accidentally threw into the trash can will be melted down and remade into something else. Will it be a plastic bag, another water bottle, art?

The rest of the trash is transported to a landfill in big trash trucks. These trucks haul the trash and place it in the nearest landfill. Do you know what a landfill is? A landfill is not a simple hole in the ground to dump waste! A landfill is a lined opening to put trash. This is the difference between your local watering hole and a backyard pool. A landfill is usually lined on the bottom and sides with plastic or clay to prevent water and trash from leaking into the ground, much the same way the pool is lined with concrete to prevent the water from going into the ground. The trash is poured into the landfill and covered by a layer of soil so that the trash doesn’t fly away, get wet, or get into the surrounding area to affect wildlife. Each day’s layer of trash and soil is a "cell" of trash that gets stacked on top of one another like a row of dominoes. They repeat this process until the landfill is full.