Visit to Higashi Clean Center

On Thursday, January 31st, Grades 1 and 2 visited the Higashi Clean Center to learn about what happens to all the garbage in Kobe.

Our visit began with a video presentation that explained how the garbage is picked up, dropped off, sorted, incinerated and finally disposed of.

Our guide, Mr. Kawanami then took us for a tour around the facility, starting all the way at the top! Many of the students (and teachers) were huffing and puffing as we walked up the 5 floors to the top of the garbage pit.

There at the top, we could see the giant claw-like crane which could pick up eight garbage truck loads of garbage at one time! That was only a small bit compared to the 17-meter high pit full of trash!

Next, we watched as the crane dropped the garbage down the incinerator chute!

After that, we went down to another viewing platform where we could observe the garbage trucks pulling in to drop off truckload after truckload of trash into the garbage pit.










Then we moved to the other side of the facility to see where the ash from the incinerator came out and was then picked up by another crane and dropped into another truck. These truckloads of ash are then taken over to Phoenix Island, that's a new manmade island just south of Rokko Island. Check it out on the satellite view from Google Maps and you can see just how all our garbage is being put to use building new islands!

 Then we had a bit of time to explore the hands-on area and learn more about how the facility generates its own electricity by burning the trash. The students even got to try a wind-powered electrical generator.









 Or try to answer some of the questions about how the garbage is disposed of.

 It was a great trip and really made us realize just how much garbage is thrown away in Kobe.













 Back at school, the students decided to take some action. In order to help reduce the number of things that become waste, they decided that we need to recycle and reuse more things. To do so, Grades 1 and 2 will hold a Flea Market from Monday, February 11th until Wednesday, the 13th during recess time and after school from 3:30 until 3:45.

Next week, Grades 1 and 2 students will bring in things from home that are no longer needed and can be reused such as books, CDs, DVDs, games, clothes, and toys.

They will sort and gather these items and then prepare to sell them the following week. The money raised will go towards improving the school and any items that are not sold will be donated to an NGO called Shaplaneer which is running a campaign, "Don't throw it away" to help people in Bangladesh and Nepal.

Please support our efforts by sending in any used items, such as those listed above next week.

The students worked hard at creating posters to advertise this event. Let's all try to help create less trash by making donations.

Remember, one person's trash can be someone else's treasure!

Come treasure hunting at our Reuse It Flea Market!