Last year, Jack Draper ’26 and his art teacher Lauren Cunningham were discussing an unexpected topic: trash. They agreed that it could be interesting and impactful to see where trash goes after it’s thrown away. The idea stuck with them until last month, when Jack and Ms. Cunningham, with the help of Jack’s father, arranged a tour of Lone Star Landfill for EHS students and faculty. Since all of Houston’s landfills are privately run and typically do not offer public tours, this experience was both rare and special.
Lone Star is primarily a disposal facility for construction and demolition waste. It also serves as a transfer station for household waste. One of the first stops on the tour was a large warehouse where a steady flow of garbage trucks were unloading their hauls. “Getting to see all the trucks bringing in more and more trash,” reflected Keely Carr ’25, “really put into perspective how much waste we put out there.”
The group then went to see where construction and demolition waste was being disposed of. The site was located on top of a hill, which the tour guide later revealed was in fact a mound of previously buried trash. From the elevated vantage point, the group could see and learned about many of the landfill’s other features, such as ponds to catch rain runoff. “I enjoyed seeing the ground up there because it was interesting how they deal with trying to not let leakage enter the groundwater and the leachate situation,” said Caroline Brynes ’25.
Caroline and most of the students on the tour took AP Environmental Science, or APES, this year. In this course, they study landfills and learn about the steps that must be taken to contain the toxic liquids and gasses that they produce. Students seemed to appreciate seeing a landfill up close and in person—even if it was smellier than the textbook version. Reid Johnson ’25 “enjoyed using what I was taught in the classroom and connecting it to real life experiences.”
APES teacher, Pat Michael, shared, “[The tour] reminded me why I love teaching APES. It isn’t about the test scores. It’s my students telling me how cool it is to see a working landfill in real life—and saying they will never look at throwing away garbage the same again. It’s knowing my students want to make an impact and be the change needed for the future.”