A Community Trash Walk
Orgabcnnibzxenacbtrash walk (continued)
➍ Walk!
Break into teams to walk around different parts of the community. Because
different groups will notice different problems, you might form teams of only men
or only women, or have a youth group walk separately from adults. Or you may
have all mixed teams.
Notice where trash collects and the most common ways trash is disposed of. Are
there public trash bins? Do people burn trash or dump it in the open? Bring it to a
landfill or incinerator? Are some things collected and reused or recycled, such as
glass bottles or newspapers? What about waste from businesses?
Have someone in each team keep a list or make a drawing of the problems you
find on the walk, including what kinds of waste you see.
➎ Look at waste in people’s homes.
How much and what kinds are there?
As a part of the walk, go to some
volunteers’ homes to see what
kinds of waste and resources are
there. Take a full trash can and
dump its contents on the ground.
Separate the waste into 5 piles:
• food scraps and other wet,
organic waste
• plastics
• paper
• metal
• other wastes
Which pile is biggest and which
is smallest? What is done with each of these kinds of waste, and what could be
done rather than throwing them in the trash? Take some of the waste from several
households to the group discussion that follows.
Remember to put the rest back in the trash cans!
➏ Come together to discuss what people saw
Later the same day (or the next day), bring all the teams back together to discuss
what was learned.
Ask everyone to share what they saw during the walk. Have each person show a
piece of household waste and say if she noticed the same kind of waste elsewhere
in the community creating a problem or being reused or recycled. Did people see
any possible or current health problems due to poor waste disposal? What were
the better ideas about waste disposal that some families were using?
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A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012