Taking Focus | Waste

This week for Taking Focus I wanted to do something for Earth Day, which is tomorrow.  So, I chose the topic of waste.  I’m kind of a nut when it comes to trash and recycling.  My husband gives me a hard time because I want to recycle everything.  Our recycling bin fills up faster than our regular trash and I’ve been known to collect old electronics of family and friends to take to our local e-waste facility.

With 545 million tons of solid waste handled by waste management companies across the country last year, this is clearly a big problem. While recycling has become more and more prevalent, I bet you would be pretty shocked at what you’d find going into your local landfill. Yet, I’m optimistic that it’s something we can do something about.   But I’ll stop there before I get too preachy.

The story behind these photos is that I called up my pal Scott who has a landscaping business here in Pasadena.  He makes frequent trips to the local Scholl Canyon Landfill hauling a ton or two of green waste at a time and he let me tag along a few days ago to check it out.  It was fascinating to me.  When we arrived there were at least 10 trucks ahead of us–garbage trucks, those trucks you see around filled with junk like the Grapes of Wrath and construction-looking trucks—all waiting in line to get up to the landfill.  The landfill itself was a trip because it looked just like a big dirt hill but in fact was layers upon layers of garbage.  But the thing that really got me was thinking about was the fact that this landfill was just a few miles from La Canada, Eagle Rock, Glendale and Pasadena and yet most people probably don’t know that it’s there.

Well, here are a few shots from my field trip to the dump!

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