Marianna De Tollis

West Boca students at the Waste Management Facility entrance along side a “trash monster” statue

   About a week ago, the AP Spanish and Italian students went on a field trip to Palm Beach County’s solid waste management facility. As stinky as it sounds, it was surprisingly a very interesting and fun learning experience. 

   I had the opportunity to join my class on this trip along with Mrs. Midttun, Dr. De Tollis, and Mr. Rivera. Every year, they offer us this opportunity to help their students with their AP exam, as stated by Dr. De Tollis, “AP classes have different categories and topics, and one of them is the environment. So, our students need to be familiar with how the United States, in this case, Florida’s waste elimination process, occurs. They are required to know these topics for parts of the test, like the cultural comparison and the speaking conversation part, where themes such as recycling and environmental justice may fall into place.”

   Once we arrived at the facility, we were welcomed by the employees who gave us a tour and taught us about their process. Starting with their dual-stream system, where our community sorts recyclables into two bins: yellow (paper & cardboard) and blue (plastic, glass, cartons). They first begin with their recycling process, then we learned about their waste burning process through their interactive demonstrations, 

videos, and a tour around the facility. AP Italian student Davi Aguiar said, “It [the field trip] was inspiring because it helped me learn more about the recycling process and a lot of information I didn’t know, such as the material of the milk carton and how its not recycle because its not 100% paper, so we catergorize it as plastic because of the material inside the carton”

   As we toured some facilities, despite what many may be thinking, it didn’t stink as much as it seemed it would, and we got to see the sorting in action and people at work. Something that really impressed me is how innovative the building is; despite it being a waste management facility, it was very clean and environmentally friendly. They have countless plants and gardens on the roof, so they take in most of the heat energy to decrease energy consumption from the building, which works 24/7. AP Italian student Victoria Jesus was also amazed by their facility and said, “ I learned a lot of new things, and it was really interesting to see how they also recycle energy consumption.” They have lots of windows, and motion-censored lights to also decrease the use of the light energy, and cracks on the roof floor where they reuse rainwater.

   The SWA also offers programs partnered with the non-profit creative reuse center Resource Depot, where they introduce and implement their new concept to citizens of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and REthink! Their workshops bring awareness to how much “waste” can be reused and refurbished. The Resource Depot uses creative innovations to give trash a new life in fashion and other artistic forms. 

   We learned and discovered how much we as a community impact our recycling systems, and the large outcomes the smallest actions have. It is vitally important to know the right way to recycle, which many of us carelessly ignore or may be unaware of. Remember: the trash in our yellow and blue bins must be kept separate, so please identify them correctly. If one person wrongly misplaces an item in the bins, the entire process is prolonged, resulting in more time and money being spent by both our community and the waste management employees. They have several cases where a garden hose or multiple plastic bags have been incorrectly placed and become stuck in one of the machines during the recycling process, resulting in an employee having to cut the hose and plastic bags by hand within the enormous machine.

  So, if you’re an AP student, I highly recommend attending this trip! Some other students, like Thomas Broadley, claimed, “I think it was amazing and super educational,” and Isabella Marcellino, “It was really interesting to physically see how much trash a small family of four produces in a year, really changed my perspective about recycling.” So, be mindful when separating your trash for yourself, others, and our planet so we can always have a cleaner community! Let’s keep the streak of making Palm Beach County’s recycling rate among the highest in the state!