Every year in our school 3rd polimodal students have a subject called Project. Teachers Silvia Bartolucci, Silvina De Negri, Jane Yocca, Alejandra Yanotti and María Marta Albornoz, have decided to do something related to environmental issues and they have started “Trash Project”.
For the last three years students and teachers have been doing a lot of research. They have learnt a lot about the contamination problem and they chose Tafí del Valle as the place the project would be implemented because it is a very nice place, which is visited every year by a lot of foreign people and you are constantly in contact with nature.
This year, the class of 2008 have also done some research about pollution, trash, recycling, and everything related to this issue, as the other students did. Through this we have learnt what trash classification is.
There are two kinds of trash. One is the wet trash that includes food and everything that contaminates the other kind of trash, the dry one, which includes both recyclable and non recyclable materials such as plastic, glass, metal, paper and cardboard. These materials are processed so they can be sold to be reused. This way the amount of trash that is thrown away, burned or buried will be reduced. That is why the aim of this project is to create special dustbins called ecological islands which are different compartments to put the trash in dividing it in the two types. In this way we can do everything simpler so that rubbish can be separated into the wet one to make compost or to recycle. There is also another dustbin for used batteries that are very contaminating because they are made of toxic chemicals, and 30% of their content has substances that can damage health and environment.
In our class we are divided into three groups. The first one has to make a short video, in order to make people realise how dangerous the situation about pollution is nowadays and encourage them to do something to change this. The second one is in charge of making the special dustbins. They have to present a model and this has to be supervised by the teachers. After this, they are provided with the necessary materials and the students have to build them. And the last group has to do a campaign for different kind of people, considering age and social class to make them think about this problem and collaborate with us. To make this possible, we went to Tafí del Valle and saw how they work with garbage in the recycling plant situated in El Mollar. The man in charge of this plant is Mr. Zonca and he explained to us how the plant works, and showed us the way trash is classified. He told us that the recycling plant in El Mollar has been working since 2003. It was given by the Alumbrera Mine in compensation for the visual contamination they had caused in Tafí del Valle. This plant does not receive any help from the government. Mr Zonca said that the job they do in the plant is not well paid so they do it only to help with a solution to the contamination problem. While talking about this, he added that during the year, the amount of rubbish produced in both Tafí del Valle and El Mollar is of three tons, but in summer, especially in January, this amount rises to twenty tons.
Mr. Zonca also told us that the main cause of the problem of rubbish contamination is the wet trash. The other materials, such as plastic, cardboard, glass and paper are processed in the plant and then sold at low prices. The rest of the trash, the one that is not sold or recycled is used to make compost, or is buried in places called sanitary landfills, which are located far away from population and the land has to be previously studied. After Mr. Zonca finished his explanation, we went to see the plant and we saw how the workers manipulate the trash that arrived at the plant.
After this visit to the plant, we were divided in groups and cleaned the sides of the rute that joins El Mollar and Tafí del Valle. We collected fifty bags full of rubbish and there was more left. We realised the serious problem of contamination because people do not care about the environment and they are not conscious of the damage they provoke.
We are very enthusiastic about this because it is a very good way to have an active participation in the community and we feel that we are helping a little but efficiently to preserve the environment.
This year, the class of 2008 have also done some research about pollution, trash, recycling, and everything related to this issue, as the other students did. Through this we have learnt what trash classification is.
There are two kinds of trash. One is the wet trash that includes food and everything that contaminates the other kind of trash, the dry one, which includes both recyclable and non recyclable materials such as plastic, glass, metal, paper and cardboard. These materials are processed so they can be sold to be reused. This way the amount of trash that is thrown away, burned or buried will be reduced. That is why the aim of this project is to create special dustbins called ecological islands which are different compartments to put the trash in dividing it in the two types. In this way we can do everything simpler so that rubbish can be separated into the wet one to make compost or to recycle. There is also another dustbin for used batteries that are very contaminating because they are made of toxic chemicals, and 30% of their content has substances that can damage health and environment.
In our class we are divided into three groups. The first one has to make a short video, in order to make people realise how dangerous the situation about pollution is nowadays and encourage them to do something to change this. The second one is in charge of making the special dustbins. They have to present a model and this has to be supervised by the teachers. After this, they are provided with the necessary materials and the students have to build them. And the last group has to do a campaign for different kind of people, considering age and social class to make them think about this problem and collaborate with us. To make this possible, we went to Tafí del Valle and saw how they work with garbage in the recycling plant situated in El Mollar. The man in charge of this plant is Mr. Zonca and he explained to us how the plant works, and showed us the way trash is classified. He told us that the recycling plant in El Mollar has been working since 2003. It was given by the Alumbrera Mine in compensation for the visual contamination they had caused in Tafí del Valle. This plant does not receive any help from the government. Mr Zonca said that the job they do in the plant is not well paid so they do it only to help with a solution to the contamination problem. While talking about this, he added that during the year, the amount of rubbish produced in both Tafí del Valle and El Mollar is of three tons, but in summer, especially in January, this amount rises to twenty tons.
Mr. Zonca also told us that the main cause of the problem of rubbish contamination is the wet trash. The other materials, such as plastic, cardboard, glass and paper are processed in the plant and then sold at low prices. The rest of the trash, the one that is not sold or recycled is used to make compost, or is buried in places called sanitary landfills, which are located far away from population and the land has to be previously studied. After Mr. Zonca finished his explanation, we went to see the plant and we saw how the workers manipulate the trash that arrived at the plant.
After this visit to the plant, we were divided in groups and cleaned the sides of the rute that joins El Mollar and Tafí del Valle. We collected fifty bags full of rubbish and there was more left. We realised the serious problem of contamination because people do not care about the environment and they are not conscious of the damage they provoke.
We are very enthusiastic about this because it is a very good way to have an active participation in the community and we feel that we are helping a little but efficiently to preserve the environment.
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