Our first fieldtrip!

Columbia Park Elementary Students boarding the bus on their first field trip as part of Wildsight’s ‘Beyond Recycling’ Program.

It was a brisk winter morning with crunchy ice on the ground as we excitedly boarded the bus! We were greeted by Clayton the most enthusiastic bus driver in Revelstoke! He was just as excited as us to be heading across the Columbia River to take us to Revelstoke’s waste facility and landfill on Westside Road. Once we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by Grahame the CSRD’s Waste Reduction Coordinator. We could barely contain our excitement as our eyes opened wide at all the possibilities of treasure and materials that could be used for projects.

Graham Casselman the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD)’s passionate Waste Reduction Coordinator. Giving our class a tour of the transfer facility.

Grahame guided us around the transfer site, sharing the process for each station and the story of how the ‘stuff’ (mattresses, garbage, oil, timber, scrap metal, recyclable material, propane bottles and compost!) gets to the waste facility, how it is processed and where it goes after. It was impressive and surprising for us to learn how affordable it is to take items such as mattresses and child car seats to the waste facility. Better yet, there are local organizations who repurpose the used seat belts to make bags, seat covers and other useful items!

Columbia Park Grade 6 student Bridget pouring our class food waste into the compost collection bin at the transfer facility. The contents then get taken over to the composting facility on site where they are processed.

We learned more about the newest awesome feature at the transfer station – the composting facility! It can transform food waste and compost to a useable product! Over the last few weeks, we have been collecting our classroom food waste and compost and today we dropped it off! Two of our students even got to pour of 2.3kgs of waste into the first collection bin.

After learning about all the different stations and processes at the transfer station we jumped back on the bus to make the quick journey across the road to the landfill.

Our eyes were captivated by the sight of a large flock of ravens and some enormous bald eagle adults who looked very well fed! Turns out they are! These birds rummage through the garbage looking for food waste! This landfill has been operating since the 1960’s and has limited space for further development and expansion. What will we do with out waste then?

We were lucky enough to see some garbage being dropped off with a load of woodchip and organic matter. It was easy to see how quickly it the landfill builds up and surprising to see how much plastic our town uses and how it can be caught on the breeze! One student even noticed some waste in the landfill side that was dated from 2013, ten years ago! The field trip generated lots of engaging conversations and observations!

Huge thank you to Grahame from the CSRD.

Where does Revelstoke's waste go?

Our first fieldtrip!