Journal 6 - Waste to Energy Facility

 My class and I had the opportunity to go visit the waste to energy facility located in Fort Myers. This was my first time going to a waste facility and will probably be my last because that was the most awful smell I have ever inhaled. As soon as we stepped off the bus, the scent hits you immediately. However, once you get to a certain point on the field trip the smell either goes away or don't be as bad. On this trip, we learned a lot about how waste management will take the trash gathered from all over the county and turn the waste into renewable materials. Before going on this trip is when I saw garbage men I didn't think much about their job or the significance of it. However, their role in this world is very crucial to environmental sustainability and pollution. 

Our first stop was in a conference room where we went over the basics of what goes down at the facility. Here we learned about certain important terminology, the process of turning the waste into ash, and other value information. Our guide told us that there are 5 different names that people tend to call the waste facility. These include but are not limited to waste to energy, lee county waste recovery center, magic plant, the incinerator, and lee county solid waste. He said the incinerator is the most offensive name because there is much more to them than just burning waste into ash. Our guide also mentioned how the facility got paid by enterprises and service fee funds. The thing that sets them different than others is that they have a material recovery facility where all recyclable material go. 

After we left the conference room, we went to the most stinky part of the field trip which is where all the dump trucks and garbage trucks go to drop off the trash. Although it was stink, I was blown away on how trash was taken out the garbage trucks and picked out by a overhead crane. I always thought that people take trash out the trucks but instead there is a push tool located in the back of the truck and it pushed the trash all the way to the front and out of the truck. A lot of trucks can dump their trash at the same time but there is only one overhead crane to pick up the trash which leave a big pile of trash sitting there forever. Which I think really contribute to the smell. A fun fact that I found interesting was that the overhead crane has the ability to pick up to up 10,000 pounds of trash! 

From there, we went to the combustion part of the facility which surprising wasn't as hot as I thought it was going to be. During this stage, all trash getting burned and turned into ash. The cool thing about this process is that material that can be reused is separated from the ash and sent off for example metal. I believe our tour guide said that the amount of metal they collect per year through this process can be used to make over 25,000 cars or automobiles. We wore a hard hat and goggles for safety during this part and it made me feel like a handy man. 

 

Other parts of our tour included seeing the control panel and meeting our workers at the facility and getting to know them and what they do. I really liked this part because we were able to connect with the workers and see what goes through their head while working. I, of course, had to ask them about the smell and can they put up with it. They told me that after working there for so long, you kind of get used to it. Also while looking at their computer screen, I seen a bunch of numbers and complications. When I asked about that, they were trying to build prototypes and other tools to continue to improve the operation in the facility. 

Overall, my experience at the waste facility was one for the books. They focuses on the 4 R's which is reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover. Then we added one which is rethink. They also touched on a topic that we have ben talking about since the beginning if the semester which is sustainability. Sustainability is meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Lee county is ranked one of the most cleanliest and environmentally sustainable counties in Florida for a reason. This facility helps with that ranking.