Day Nine

The Truth About Trash
Earlier this week, I was curious to find out what Belizeans do with their trash. So, John and I checked out a local landfill.

This is just one small portion of the ten tons of garbage dumped at San Ignacio landfill every day.

"How much garbage is dumped here per day?" I asked Rodolfo Aladana, the landfill manager.

"Ten tons," he replied.

I did some quick math: 10 tons of garbage per day, times 365 days per year, equals 3,650 tons of garbage a year. Just for one little city in Belize! That may sound like mounds of trash, but it's peanuts compared to the 430 billion pounds of household garbage we Americans produce per year.

Belize is doing its best to combat its garbage problem: The government plans to build a landfill that will hold sixty percent of the country's garbage. The problem is that the site is close to the Sibun River. It could pollute the habitat of many animals and villages. What could be another solution to Belize's garbage problem?

For archaeologists, ancient garbage dumps are treasure troves. The best way to understand what people ate and used in the past is to see what they threw away.

	Yesterday's lunch is tomorrow's archaeological treasure.

It turns out that when the Maya civilization started falling apart, they threw their garbage into abandoned houses. These houses may hold clues to the collapse of the Maya. But what kind of clues?

For an archaeologist, old trash is a treasure. For anyone else, it's a problem. It just goes to show that one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Interested in learning more about environmental issues facing Central America? How archaeologists study the leftovers of an ancient civilization? Visit MayaQuest!

Going Questal,

- Stephanie Gregory

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