Itinerary for Greater Grand Rapids Garbage Tour Tomorrow

 

The Greater Grand Rapids Garbage Tour will run, as scheduled on Wednesday, April 24, 2013.

The itinerary is as follows:

10:30 AM - Introduction, sign in, and board the bus at GRCC’s Tassell MTEC, 622 Godfrey SW, Grand Rapids, MI. 

                   Parking is free and available on site.

11:00 AM - Arrive at Kent County’s Material Recycling Facility (MRF)

1:00 PM - Arrive at Covanta Energy Waste To Energy Facility

2:30 PM - Arrive at South Kent Landfill

4:00 PM - Arrive at GRCC’s Tassell MTEC, and depart

Last week’s rain and flooding may impact access to some parts of the facilities, but the tour will go on.

Please note:

·         Long sleeves and long pants are required

·         Wear flat, closed-toed shoes or boots

·         Bring a sack lunch. We’ll eat following our tour at the MRF, then follow our trash for the rest of the day.

See you Wednesday! 

Workforce Training

Grand Rapids Community College

622 Godfrey Ave. SW

616.234.3400

workforcetraining@grcc.edu

I'm signed up and looking forward to attending the 2013 Grand Rapids Garbage Tour on 4/24 - Where does all the garbage go?

Information about the tour:
https://learning.grcc.edu/ec2k/CourseListing.asp?master_id=573&course_area=CERE&course_number=130&course_subtitle=00

Here is a YouTube video of the 2012 tour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38WVa7ioYhc

National Geographic Great Barrier Reef Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wbNeIn3vVKM

Pictures from Cleanup in Elliott Key - Biscayne Bay

Click here to view these pictures larger

Thank You Email to students from Biscayne Park Ranger Dan

From: Crossett, Dan
Date: Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 2:01 PM
Subject: Those that pick up trash!!

Hey all!

I hope this message finds all of you save and fulfilled after an incredibly productive alternative winter/spring break season.

First and foremost, I would just like to say thank ya'll so very much. All of the trash removed from the beaches/mangroves/canals here in Biscayne National Park could not have been done without the help from such motivated students like yourselves!

A total of 18 groups came down to visit us in not always so sunny and warm Florida, making up 2832 hours of service! Nice! Bring it on trash...
Though, this also could not have been done without the other volunteers helping out the Park as well as staff assisting with logistics and good ol' fashion brute labor.

The trash area removed can be calculated in a myriad of different parameters.
First, we filled 100 cubic yards of dumpster space....That giant green dumpster that we have all seen resting, filthily, on the Headquarters quay, is only a trivial 30 cubic yards of dumpster space. So, multiply that by 3 and then add 1/10th and imagine that in your living room!...Or not, it may be just too vivid, but it is an instant reward to see it removed from the many eco-tones patrolled.

Secondly, we can look at 130 gallon contractor bags used to transport trash from the beach, through the chilly waters and heaved onto the boat. That number would be 581 bags. Now imagine a parade of nearly 200 proud college students, giant black bags slung over their shoulders, and multiply that by 2.5. It may bring back images of Aladdin's princely parade but I assure you, there were no genies involved!

Lastly, and a much more qualitative approach, we can view before and after pictures of dense, refuse-filled pockets of human influence scattered about the Park. This is where I was hoping ya'll might come in handy. It turns out, I did a rather poor job at documenting many transitions of trash-to-sand, trash-to-mangrove, trash-to-(insert natural habitat). So, I have set up a Shutterfly account online!

Bring on the photos! And once again thank you all very much, we truly appreciate all of your hard work.

Cheers,
Dan Crossett
Biscayne National Park
Biological Science Technician