Tags: Freshkills upSTREAM

Single-use plastic was introduced soon after the Fresh Kills landfill opened in the 1940s. Instead of reducing or reusing, Americans began to love the ease of just throwing things away. No need to wash the dishes- just toss them! The increase in disposable items and the accompanying rise of “throwaway culture” was one factor that led to the Fresh Kills Landfill’s growth.

Spring is in the air. At Freshkills Park that usually means the beginning of spring field trips and tours, but because we are social distancing, we’re bringing some of our favorite projects to you at home. Earlier this week Ariel from The Little Mermaid inspired us to decorate with things she scavenged.  

Freshkills Park, once the world’s largest landfill, has been reclaimed and transformed into native grasslands.  Landfills are not a sustainable technique for managing our waste and we need to explore alternatives for reducing our household waste streams to minimize and eventually eliminate the need for them.  

Picture this: You’re finishing up a carton of milk. You pour out the last drop and rinse it out. Then, you walk over to your home recycling station to decide where the carton should go. Trash? Paper and cardboard? Glass, metal, and plastic?

In our Freshkills Freshflix review of WALL-E, we learned that the average American throws out about 5 pounds of garbage a day. Much of that garbage could be recycled. New Yorkers recycle about 17% of our waste, less than half of possible material.

Unless you grew up near a landfill, like Fresh Kills, the average person doesn’t think twice about their trash once it’s picked up. However, all trash still has to go somewhere, and most of it isn’t designed to break down for hundreds of years.