A license plate from Minnesota. An old rocking horse. A Bart Simpson action figure. A wooden hanger.
Separate, these items are just old trash. Together, combined with one-ton’s worth of other colorful throwaways, they form a larger-than-life 2,000 pound dinosaur known as the “Trash-o-saurus,” just one of many exhibits at the Children’s Garbage Museum and Education Center in Stratford.
The museum, which is housed next to an active recycling plant, aims to educate the public about solid waste and attracts quite the diverse crowd.
“We do it for the community,” said Robyn Bennett, an educator at the museum.
Although younger children are the primary age group that visits, high school, college, and even senior citizens have spent hours at the museum. Bennett has seen guests from all over the country, including Michigan and California.
Likewise, an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people pass through each month.
Classes hoping to attend for a field trip must book over a year in advance to take a tour.
Other exhibits include a worm tunnel, in which children can walk through a simulated pile of compost alongside giant worms, a “Trash Bash” game, where participants are quizzed on recycling knowledge and covered with dry garbage for wrong answers, and a general store window display explaining the trash of past versus present.
Also included is a tour of the recycling plant, which processes 250 tons of recyclables per day from 19 towns in Fairfield County.
Mountains of green detergent containers, white milk jugs, crushed aluminum soda cans and newspaper are below as the onlooker walks through a windowed tunnel above the plant.
Garbage is sorted and turned into bales that weigh between 800 and 2,200 pounds and sold to help fund the museum. The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority also provides funding.
“We really try to crank them [children] up,” said Audrey Sciuto, another educator at the center.
“We tell them they’re the recycling police because we do want to aggravate adults, make sure they’re putting the right things in and pulling the right things out [of the garbage can],” he said.
Both young and old alike appreciate the exhibits and tend to walk away from the museum feeling like they have learned something.
“I’ve been to the museum six times,” said 11-year-old Tommy Winchell, a resident of Fairfield.
“The exhibits are a lot of fun. Last time I went, I watched this really cool movie, but I like the recycling plant the best. I always learn something,” he said.
Visits to the museum can have a lasting impact on some of the kids.
“After every visit, Tommy becomes an avid recycler, making sure I don’t throw away cans or plastics,” said his mother Beth Winchell.
“He loves the museum and never gets tired of it,” she said.
All generations seem to appreciate the museum for its valuable lessons.
“I enjoyed it more than my grandchildren, and they loved it,” wrote Trumbull resident Terry Durant in the comment book available at the museum’s exit.
Internships for college students interested in environmental science or education are offered by the museum. For more information, contact the Child Garbage Museum and Education center, (800) 455-9571 or visit www.crra.org.
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