Students at Metro High School in Columbus, Ohio have teamed
with the PAST Foundation and the Solid Waste Authority of
Central Ohio (SWACO) to establish a high school garbage
program. The program is inspired and guided by the work of
Dr. William Rathje, who founded the Garbage Project in the
early 1970s, and has subsequently excavated more than twenty
landfills in North America. The Garbage Project studies
modern refuse using well-established archaeological
techniques.

Metro High students will spend several weeks working with
their teachers in hopes of understanding the impact society
can have on our environment. Students will tour SWACO’s
Franklin County landfill for a first-hand look at that part
of Central Ohio’s waste management plan. The
“garbology” project is threaded through the entire range
of students’ academic courses as well, with
project-related assignments in not only math and science
classes, but in language arts, and Spanish as well. Many of
these projects and assignments will be profiled. See:

http://www.pastfoundation.org/2006Garbology/

Andy Hall