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Katie Barnes (University of Missouri)
The Real Cycle of Trash
Award of Excellence
Domestic Picture Story
Domestic Picture Story
Every week, residents of almost every community in the United States carry their trash to the curb, and in a matter of hours it disappears. St. James is a small but growing community. From 2000 to 2007 its population increased by 11 percent, and its trash production increased by 25 percent. The city of St. James spends $415,000 per year on trash collection, and last year removed 3,539 tons of trash from the city limits. On average, each resident produces roughly 37 pounds of trash per week. Landfills are purposely built out of sight, and trash trucks usually are gone by the early morning. It's easy to not worry about trash when you can't ever follow its trail.
Story: The Real Cycle of Trash
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A pair of poster eyes peer out from a heap of trash at the Black Oak landfill in Hartville, Missouri on Sept. 24, 2008. The trash of St. James, Missouri travels one hundred miles every day to this landfill.
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Story: The Real Cycle of Trash
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St. James High School students eat lunch from styrofoam trays using plastic utensils in the cafeteria. Styrofoam is a petroleum-based material that can take centuries to decompose.
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Story: The Real Cycle of Trash
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Plastic bottles of water line the shelves of the Country Mart grocery store in St. James, Missouri on Sept. 25, 2008. In rural Missouri areas, plastic materials make up 12% of the trash that's thrown into landfills.
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Story: The Real Cycle of Trash
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Raymond Light, 26, dives into the dumpster behind the Country Mart grocery store in St. James, Missouri on Sept. 25, 2008. "They shouldn't throw this stuff away. At least donate it to the Caring Center or give it to people with animals," said Light. "We have four dogs at home. With the price of food going up we have to do this."
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Story: The Real Cycle of Trash
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A pair of recliners on the curb are crushed by the trash compactor in St. James, Missouri on Sept. 22, 2008. "Most people just don't want to take the time to transport stuff to the thrift store, so they just throw it out on the curb," said Ron Fraser, a trash collector for the City of St. James.
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Story: The Real Cycle of Trash
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Trash from St. James is taken to the transfer station in Rolla where it's loaded onto an 18-wheel semi trailer to travel to the Black Oak Landfill one hundred miles away. Transfer stations were created as communities grew, in an effort to move more trash further away efficiently.
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Story: The Real Cycle of Trash
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Turkey vultures wait for a calm moment at the Black Oak landfill in Hartville, Missouri to explore the trash for food scraps on Sept. 24, 2008. Landfills and trash transfer stations often attract pests like rodents and scavenging animals to the area. "Once these cells are capped, hardly any breakdown of trash will take place," said Shelby Reese, Black Oak landfill supervisor.
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