The document discusses composting and landfill waste. It explains that compost is made by letting vegetables, fruits, leaves, and grass rot in a pile, which turns it into soil that can be used in gardens. It lists items that can and cannot be composted. It also discusses the landfill process, where garbage trucks take trash to landfills where it is dumped into piles and covered with dirt. It notes some materials take a long time to decompose in landfills, such as glass, aluminum, and plastic, and that landfills will eventually become too full.

1. Back to Nature

2. W hat is this strange pile in the backyard? If you let vegetables, fruits, leaves, and grass rot in a pile, they will turn into compost. Compost looks like soil. You can put it in your garden to help plants grow. What’s compost?

3. Process of Compost something that can be rotten naturally soon

4. What's compostable? Greens Green leaves Coffee grounds Tea bags Plant trimmings Raw fruit and vegetable scraps Fresh grass clippings Hair Browns Dried grasses, leaves and some weeds Straw Woodchips Twigs and branches Sawdust Shredded newspaper

5. Food with meat, dairy or oils Pet feces (dog, cat or bird) Diseased plants Weeds gone to seed Ash from charcoal or coal What’s not compostable?

6. What's compostable? (and what isn't?)

7. Let’s talk about! Cycle of Compost

8. Where Does Your Waste Go? Most of the trash that people throw away ends up in landfills or dumps. The process starts when we put our household trash by the curb to be picked up. Garbage trucks go into neighborhoods to pick up the trash. Then they bring it to the landfill where the trucks dump out all the trash. Next, machines push the trash into big piles. Finally, the piles are covered with dirt so more trash can go on the top. Landfills- areas where trash is taken

9. Trash decomposes at different rates. Some trash takes a long time to decompose, causing the piles to get too big. We are running out of room for new trash. 500 yrs 400 yrs 300 yrs 200 yrs 100 yrs 50 yrs 25 yrs 0 yrs less than a year Decompose- to rot or break down glass aluminum plastic paper food

10. Questions 1. What three things happen to trash as soon as it reaches the landfills? (Hint: Write your answer using commas in a series.) 2. Which would decompose faster, a paper bag or a plastic bag? Explain your answer in a complete sentence. 3. Give two examples of types of trash that take years to decompose. 4. What do you think will happen when our landfills get too full? Sample answers next

11. Answers 1. After trash reaches the landfill garbage trucks dump it, machines push it into piles, and soil is placed on top. 2. A paper bag would decompose quicker because it is made from trees. Trees are a natural resource which decompose faster. Plastics are man-made and decompose slowly.

12. 4. If landfills become too full, we would lose land that could be used for places such as: homes, playgrounds, and schools. The Earth would become more polluted and eventually we would run out of space. What other ideas did you come up with? End of activity 3. Trash that would take years to decompose include: glass aluminum plastic

13. Can you put more things that go in a compost bin?