Mrs. Rosa

Mrs. Rosa's
Class Photos

Our first field trip of the school year was to the Ludlow Transfer Station. Accompanied by Municipal Manager, Frank Heald, fourth graders met Mr. George Fairchild upon arrival. Mr. Fairchild's job is to oversee the smooth operation of the transfer station and its staff. We soon learned that if we had any questions about recyclables, reusables, composting, or trash, Mr. Fairchild is the man who can answer them all! We brought along with us many bags and boxes of recyclables collected from home and school. From "swirly" Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs to empty cat food cans to old Homework papers and plastic milk jugs, we had quite a variety! We were weighed with our recyclables and learned that we weighed just a ton. (That included Mr. Heald and Mrs. Rosa). Then Mr. Fairchild explained where the various types of recyclables should be deposited for collection. After doing this, we were weighed again. We learned that we recycled 480 pounds of paper, plastic, glass, metal, batteries and light bulbs! Paper was by far the largest recyclable collected. After this, Mr. Fairchild took us on a tour of the grounds and explained the various areas set aside either for more recyclables, such as tires, scrap metal, Construction and Demolition debris or for reuse, such as refrigerators, air conditioners and freezers for Freon collection and reuse. We saw the brush pile for chipping into mulch and the used clothing container as well. The Swap Shop was interesting, too, because we learned that people can drop off items they are through with but which might not be ready for disposal. As one student remarked, "There still is life in them." Anyone can visit the shop and take whatever might suit them. Reusing helps to keep landfills from becoming larger and also saves resources. We learned that nothing stays for long at the Transfer Station, hence the word "transfer" in its title. Years ago there was a dump at this site and people did just that…dumped their garbage and left. There was no reusing or recycling. As a result, air, ground and water risked being polluted as the dump site grew and grew. We now know this is not the way to treat our Earth if we want it to be around for generations to come. After our tour we found we had one more task at hand. Mr. Heald brought delicious doughnuts for us to personally "recycle". Such a sweet ending to an informative morning!

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