Michigan’s EGLE creates landfill educational video

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) has released a new video designed to demonstrate what happens at landfills and how they can operate in an environmentally sound way.

Using a technique called Enviroscape, the landfill video is available to be checked out by teachers, community groups or other organizations in Michigan to support outreach and education activities.

The seven-minute video is hosted by EGLE landfill engineer Tiffany Johnson and highlights where the trash generated by residents every day goes and how landfills work. According to EGLE, in 2021, Michigan generated about 13 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW).

“By using the Landfill Enviroscape model you can learn all about where trash goes after it's picked up from your curb, how it’s managed to prevent harm to us and our environment and what we can all do to reduce waste in the first place,” Johnson says.

“We can practice sustainable materials management by reducing the amount of new things we buy, reusing and repurposing old materials before buying new and recycling and composting."

The video is posted to a section of the EGLE website called the EGLE Classroom Lending Station. The playlist includes videos on waste and recycling, groundwater protection and water and air quality. The video also has been posted to YouTube.

EGLE says teachers or other Michigan residents interested in those topics can complete an online checkout form. “Anyone checking out the landfill lending station will receive two copies of EGLE’s landfill cross section and glossary poster to keep,” the agency says.