Have you ever thought about what happens to something when you throw it in a garbage can? In the US, we're used to garbage trucks collecting our waste and not thinking about it again. In rural Ghana, garbage trucks don't exist. Let's learn how we manage garbage.
Look around your classroom. Do you see a garbage can? When I moved to my village, I was surprised because I didn't see a single garbage can! I kept all my garbage in a bag and finally asked my neighbor where the garbage cans were. I was told there were none. It was such a surprise! Instead, we unfortunately have to burn most of our garbage.
To get rid of your garbage in the village where I live, you simply burn it. Because of this, organizing your waste is very important. I generally have three bags hanging on my door. One is for food waste, most of which I can feed to the chickens that hang out around my house. The second is for trash to take to the burn pile. This is usually packaging, paper towels, toilet paper and any other scraps I have. The third bag is for things that can’t be burned. This is usually metal such as my bug spray bottles, batteries and plastic soda bottles.
I never realized how much garbage I create every single day. At first, I had nearly two grocery store bags full of trash each day!
