Reduce - Reuse - Recycle...It matters!
We are going on a field trip to one of the least visited places in our community. It is, however, one of the busiest, most used, and perhaps one of the most important facilities in the county. The New Hanover County Landfill is one of the, if not the, most high tech landfills in North Carolina. Using synthetic bed lining, a waste water treatment plant, and a constructed wetland for further treatment, it is the home to almost all of our region’s solid waste. We, as a human race, have failed to consider where our daily waste goes and what happens to it. We simply place the conveniently wheeled trash cans (which are twice as big as they used be 50 years ago) out by the curb and all the trash disappears sometime between when we leave for work or school and when we return home in the evening. The trash is gone and we happily roll the empty bin up the driveway. Where did it all go? Who cares, because now it’s much lighter then when we rolled it out this morning and we can start filling it up again…right? Well, for those do wonder, it ends up at the landfill where it sits for eternity. It doesn’t decompose, it doesn’t “disappear”, it just sits…in a big pile.
Just down the road, our county has taken great strides to reduce the size of “the pile”. At the WASTEC (Waste-to-Energy Conversion) Facility 85% of the solid waste (450 tons/day) is taken and incinerated. The furnace drives a stream turbine which provides 118,000 pounds of steam/hour which then pumps 7.5 Megawatts of electricity back into the local power grid. The ash is then used to cover the landfill and construct roads in and out of the facilities. The recycling center for our region is also located here and you will learn why it’s so important to recycle and what happens after you separate your recyclables.
Support Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation
Please help us continue to protect and conserve the remaining species of Sea Turtles. Through education and public awareness we can ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy the natural wonder of these magnificent marine species.
Please consider giving a membership to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital Foundation for birthdays and other special occasions.
Thank you for your interest and support.
