We at the Providence Eye believe that if we understand how things work, we’ll be in a better position to help them work better. After all, how can we make decisions and judgements about people and activities we know nothing about? Since our launch in 2023, we’ve been dedicated to making it possible for folks to get involved with all aspects of urban life.
And we do mean all aspects.
Enter Trash Trek, a tour of Rhode Island’s Central Landfill and Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) this Saturday morning, brought to you by the Eye. We’ll be boarding school buses at the Harborside Campus of Johnson & Wales and heading to the landfill in Johnston. There we’ll split into two groups: one will focus on waste management, and another will focus on recycling. Then, we’ll switch so that we all get to see and hear everything.
(Don’t worry about the gloomy forecast. We’ll either be inside the bus or the recycling facility the whole time.)
The landfill is Rhode Island’s highest man-made peak and over 90 percent of all the garbage we produce in Providence – and in fact, the entire state – ends up there. The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC) runs it and it’s funded by “tipping fees” from municipal and commercial haulers, not tax dollars. The MRF is the place where all of our cans, bottles, and paper go to be recycled. As our friends at ecoRI News have noted, the landfill is running out of room, with no clear solution in sight.
For years, Providence’s record with trash and recycling has been the worst in the state. As the Eye has reported, the city recycles only about seven percent of all our waste, whereas the state has mandated a recycling rate of 35 percent. Woops!
In the past six months or so, there’s been a concerted effort by the city’s Department of Sustainability and advocacy group Zero Waste Providence to educate residents about what can and can’t be recycled. (Full disclosure: I’m on the Board of Zero Waste.) That’s really important because when the recycling bins are contaminated – that is, when people put non-recyclabled things in them – the trucks take their recycling loads straight to the landfill. It’s free for city trucks to take recycling to the MRF but the city has to pay for every truckload that gets dumped at the landfill. It’s time that we all understand our waste system and the implications it has on city finances – and, of course, the environment.
You may question the idea of spending a May morning at the dump. But, really, what could be better than venturing out and learning together?
Waste not, want not!
Debbie Schimberg is the Founder and Publisher of The Providence Eye. For more info on the Eye’s “Trash Trek” – and to reserve a $5 ticket – go here.
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