Joan Cartan-Hansen, Host: When you toss something into the trash, science takes over.

Scientists are finding ways to dispose of trash and protect the environment.

Learn where your trash goes.

[MUSIC] Student: All right, Mom, I'll do it.

I can't believe I always have to take out the trash.

Cartan-Hansen: The problem of dealing with garbage isn't new, people have always struggled with taking out the trash.

Student: Hey, what are you doing in there?

Cartan-Hansen: Want to find out where your garbage goes?

Student: 0kay.

Cartan-Hansen: Americans create more garbage per capita than any other country in the world.

4.4 pounds for every man, woman, and child every day.

That's a lot of garbage and all that trash needs to go somewhere.

Trucks like this collect trash from people's homes and businesses.

This garbage is called municipal solid waste.

Most garbage in this community goes to a dump also known as a sanitary landfill.

Here the garbage is buried.

Sanitary landfills are usually far from people, livestock and water, that's because garbage can carry disease.

Landfills have lots of rules that help protect the environment and keep all of us safe.

Today, more than half of America's garbage ends up in landfills like this one.

But there's a problem.

Student: What?

Cartan-Hansen: We're running out of room.

By 2050 some estimate humans will produce 29.4 billion tons of trash.

We can't bury it all.

Some garbage is taken to a waste-to-energy plant.

A waste-to-energy plant burns the garbage to create energy.

Waste-to-energy plants have been around since the late 1800s.

Today the United States burn about 17% of its solid waste.

But burning garbage can cause problems for the environment and we have so much trash we can't burn it all.

We have to do something else with all our garbage.

It's a real problem.

But you can help starting in your own home.

Student: Whoa!

That was wild.

Now I see that garbage is a big problem.

What can I do to help?

Cartan-Hansen: Well, we all have to cut down on how much trash we make.

Start by reducing the amount of waste we produce in the first place, it's called source reduction.

The second way to help is to reuse.

For example, some places exchange filled milk bottles for empty ones.

Then the dairy can clean and reuse the glass bottles cutting down on the amount of waste.

Finding creative ways to use our stuff means less garbage has to go to the landfill.

The third way all of us can help solve the world's garbage problem is to recycle.

Recycling means to use something again.

Old metal cans are used to make new cans or other items that need metal.

Old newspapers are recycled to make new newspapers.

Lots of places give families special containers to sort recyclable items such as aluminum, plastic and paper.

These items are sometimes picked up with the rest of the trash and sent off to be recycled.

Other places have common containers where people can leave things to be picked up and recycled.

It will take all of us working together to help the environment.

You can help by remembering your three R's.

Reduce, reuse, and recycle.

By doing that, you can make a difference in the world's waste problem.

>> Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

That's easy.

Hey, mom, have you heard of composting?

It's a great way to reduce our amount of garbage.

Cartan-Hansen: If you want to learn more about garbage check out the Science Trek website, you'll find it at ScienceTrek.org [MUSIC] Announcer: Presentation of Science Trek on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Idaho National Laboratory, mentoring talent and finding solutions for energy and security challenges, by the Friends of Idaho Public Television, and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.