Recycling Tour!

As many of you know (because I wrote another post about it a few months ago), Wyatt loves all things associated with trash trucks and recycling.  Loves, loves, loves it to the point where that is what he says he is going to be when he grows up and makes me pull over and/or stalk the trash truck from our car.  So when the opportunity came up to take a tour at a Japanese recycling plant and I let him choose between that and his swimming party, it was a no-brainer choice for him.  This is so funny to me...what 4-year old chooses a trash tour over a swimming party?!
 
Thankfully, the trash tour did not disappoint!  It was so much fun.  On the way there we saw a 7-story mound of TRASH with three bulldozers on top of it (above).  We would later learn that it was an illegal dumping ground and that the recycling plant was working diligently to sort and separate it all. The current estimated timeframe was 8 years until completion.  8 years!!
 
The recycling plant is practically brand new - only three years old - and absolutely, positively immaculate!  It was downright beautiful and had state-of-the-art computers, techonology,solar panels,  and "smart" features like self-closing blinds.  The entire plant is run on electricity that they create themselves from the items they recycle!  Our tour guide (right) and translator (left) are pictured above.

First they let us watch a children's video (in English, no less!) about the recycling plant and how it works.  Then they took us around the plant, showing us the control rooms full of computers, and then that's when Wyatt saw it.  The CLAW!!!

He was absolutely fascinated by The Claw.  He watched it for at least 15 minutes and I could barely tear him away long enough without a tantrum to stand by this replica of the claw that shows its real-life size. 


I had to promise him we would come back to the Claw at the end of the tour before we could move on.  He could have stood there all day watching the trucks back up, dump their trash, and The Claw crushing it and moving it to the shredder bins!

Next up we saw the glass sorting line.  All the glass comes in on a conveyor belt and the workers sort it into green, brown, and clear bins.  After the guide and translator explained it, they asked if there were any questions.  The group of about 20 Marines was silent, but my 4-year old piped right up.  "Me! I have a question!!!" he yelled, as the group started to walk away.  "What is the rope for?" he asked.  There is a line of rope that runs about the workers' heads and it is an emergency line in case someone gets injured or the machine stops working.  Such a smart little guy!!


 
After that we got to see the huge garage where they sort paper, cardboard, and plastics.  Wyatt watched the trucks coming and going and was in little boy heaven.  After that we had to return to The Claw as promised, and then the tour was finished.  Of course he was sad to leave the recylcling plant but he had such a blast!  It was so fun seeing how excited he was. It is times like these that I love staying home with my kids!