News

Sound Rivers Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz never thought she’d call a landfill “beautiful.”

But that’s exactly how she describes Coastal Environmental Partnership’s Tuscarora landfill.

On Aug. 4, Emily, Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register, and interns Samantha Lewis and Avalon Rosenberger were invited to a tour of the facility by Somer Peed, CEP’s education and outreach coordinator.

“It was so much fun. It was truly a blast,” Emily said. “I think we were all blown away about how big their operation is, but also how beautiful it was.”

The offer for the tour came from Somer during a planning meeting for Craven County’s Big Sweep, an annual clean-up that Sound Rivers will participate in this fall. Emily said she jumped at the offer because during a trash-trap cleanout, Avalon expressed an interest in finding out where all the trash Sound Rivers removes from waterways ends up.

“Somer was a really great tour guide. She knows how everything works, and we got to see the landfill from the environmental perspective — the water-quality aspect of it and how they make sure PFAs and toxins don’t leach into the water,” Emily said.

Even more impressive was how closed parts of the landfill are being used, she said.

“We drove up the old landfill, and it was covered in grass. If I hadn’t known that we were at a landfill, I would have thought we just were just on a beautiful hill. Somer’s been planting a ton of pollinator gardens around, so there were fields of beautiful flowers and a pumpkin garden,” Emily said.

But the tour wasn’t all flowering pastures. A sobering trip to the active part of the landfill made an impression.

“I had a lot of feelings,” Emily said. “I was happy to see all the thought that goes into properly disposing of trash, but when we drove up to the top of what felt like a mountain to the active landfill, it was very startling. I felt the weight of all of that trash being disposed of.”

Coastal Environmental Partnership offers tours to the public, and with the use of a school bus, can accommodate larger groups.

Continuing education is part of Sound Rivers’ work—and that includes our staff! Donate today to support our educational outreach!