07/16/13: Day 2 - PHS LEAF 2013

Recology Rocks!

The sights. The noise. The awe. And most definitely the smells. Big trucks dump our waste into these machines which take it to the conveyor belt. People sort out the aluminum, glass, and hard plastic the best they can, and giant whirring machines do most of the rest. The paper and cardboard are sent down, and any stray plastic goes away by hand. The glass is sorted by color and sold to be recycled again, and aluminum is squashed into colorful bales for the factories to utilize. The paper ends up in bales that literally way a ton. No stopping is allowed, and 800,000 peoples’ waste always flows through undeterred. This is Recology Pier 96.

~ Ian

Day 2 @LEAF: Recology and Smitten           

The second day at LEAF was so much fun! At Recology, we learned about the process and how every job is important at the center. It must be hard to work there because it is stinky and hard work. Seeing this makes me think more about how I throw away my trash because I saw how critical it is to separate your waste. Also what I thought was very cool was the art and the falconer. It is amazing how somebody can just dig through your trash and make an inspiring sculpture. The falconer was very astonishing too because the falcon and the human have to make a bond in order to scare away the seagulls from the waste. It has to be hard to create that bond. Then we went to Pier 96 to check out the recycling center. There were so many conveyor belts bringing plastic, glass, and much more.                       

Afterwards, we headed to Smitten. They told us that they froze the ice cream with liquid nitrogen (THAT’S -346 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT) and it only takes 60 seconds to freeze it. The vanilla ice cream was creamy, smooth, and just PERFECT! Smitten’s vanilla ice cream is probably the best I’ve ever eaten.

~ Lauren

Dear LEAF,

My reflections on the Recology field trip is that no matter if it's waste it can be turned into art. It can damage the earth if you put your waste in the wrong bin. You shouldn't be too lazy to help the earth.

      

~ Anthony

Even though it has only been 2 days, here are some of the things that I thought were very interesting. When we went to SPAWN, it was very impressive to see all the things they do to help living things such as plants and animals. After, when we visited Good Earth, something that I thought was surprising was that the food was healthy and also very delicious because usually some healthy foods aren't really the tastiest thing you would think of. The next day when we went to Recology we got to learn all about recycle, compost, and trash. Something I thought was interesting was that 2/3 of trash can actually be composted or recycled. Then, we went to an ice cream shop. We got to learn all about how they make their ice cream and also even try it. I've had a lot of fun these two days. I'm looking forward to keep learning.

~ Noelly

Today I went to Recology, in a bus. The man who showed us around was very nice. He told us lots of things about the area then we went up to the sculpture garden and not only did we get to see some awesome sculptures but we also meet the falconer! His job was to scare all of the seagulls away! It was cool.  Then he showed us through the garden. That was also cool. Next we went on another bus and went to the ‘conveyor belt house’.( I named it that because it had a enormous number of conveyors.) This was on pier 96. We got back on the bus and went over to Smitten ice cream shop. We all had vanilla and it was really good - probably the best ice cream I’ve ever had. That is where I would like to go with my Dad.

~ Owen

On the day when we were with SPAWN, I was impressed about there being a lot of plants that were invasive that we eat everyday. Examples would be blackberries and mustard. I was challenged about taking out the blackberry bushes without having a thorn stuck in your arm or leg. I learned a lot about different plants and how they look so alike, but are so different. I learned about how many people die because they use poison hemlock as a straw when they think it is something else. I really enjoyed being out there to learn and help out.

~ Luke

Today we went to Recology and learned what to recycle and what not to. We also learned what can be composted and thrown in the trash. We learned about where all the recycling was put and that artists can make some impressive art just by digging in the trash.

We learned that a falcon can be used to chase seagulls away from recycling and garbage and we saw art that people made and you could easily see what it was made of. Then, we went to a park and played a juggling game involving patterns and we also did races up the hill and had 5 minutes of free time

We then went to smitty's and learned how they make ice cream with liquid nitrogen and we each had a sample and it was very smooth and soft. That was my highlight. Then, me and my friends fooled around on the bus.

Then we made a poster with 5 questions from the homework yesterday. That was pretty much the whole day. Looking forward to the next one!

~ Trey

Today we went to Recology.  At the Recology we got to see art made from garbage in the art garden and we also saw were the artist work.  In addition to seeing were they work and there art we saw the Pit (a big hole filled with garbage).  Then we went to another place and we saw machine that brings the recyclables to the people who separate the glass from paper and then separate that into colors.

~ Andres

First we went to Recology and took a look around. I found out that all waste in the black bin does not get sorted and goes straight to the landfill. Then we went to the recycle center for Recology on Pier 96. Later we went to Smitten to see how they make ice cream. They use liquid nitrogen to make the ice crystals smaller which makes it smoother. The end!

~ Sam

Dear Todd,

Here is my blog. I have loved leaf from going to Marin to going to Recology. I love the fact that we get to go on field trips to learn instead of staying in a classroom I loved picking black barriers, buying a pint of ice-cream and going to see were all of our trash goes. To eating liquid nitrogen ice cream. I have had a great time at LEAF. Thank you.

~ Ben

For the past 2 days in Leaf I learned a lot, like how to pick the right black berries, and some more other stuff. I liked it when all of us went to the golf course and found golf balls and berries. Also I learned that you can use trash make it into something cool, or you can make it into many kinds of art works

~ Marvin