Last week, I visited a landfill. Of course, I thought of mountains of trash with birds hovering over with, as that is just the image that comes to mind when we all hear the word ?landfill?. I met with fellow students for the trip early in the morning, and at about 9:00, we were soon out of the city.

`           I was somewhat startled at the fact that I had never really paid attention to where all of the waste I throw out ends up. I just had this idea that it would go somewhere dirty, although I had never seen any place like it in my life. Therefore, I was startled again when our chaperones drove toward the airport. I had surely thought that the landfill would be located somewhere remote, out of anyone?s sight, but who would believe it if it was located right next to one of Korea?s, or even the world?s biggest airport.

           However, that was the truth. The landfill was located just a few minutes? drive away from Incheon International Airport, the place which most foreigners visit when the come to Korea. Thus, I couldn?t understand why people had built a landfill right next to such an important place. A few minutes later, I found out the truth. We first watched a video at a conference hall, and took a bus to look around the massive landfill.

           The ironic, if not surprising fact was that there was not even a single trash in sight, and the place looked even cleaner than my neighborhood, without a single plastic wrap on the road. I soon discovered the fact that the little mountains in our sight was actually mounds of trash and waste. Only the dozens of gas pipes for extracting harmful gases from the mounds proved that this was really a landfill. Even those pipes, however, were decorated with funny looking pine trees, and it would be really difficult to tell the mountain apart from a real one, if we had not seen it so close.

           The most surprising part was yet to come, and it was the fact the landfill had numerous positive, not negative effects on the environment. The landfills had been transformed into parks, so that people could come and have picnics. They were even holding a golf game in a golf course that was built on top of the landfill for the 2014 Asian Games which will be held in Incheon. Furthermore, the landfill was changing some of the trash into fuels, that could be used to power the whole city.

           This trip to the landfill changed my perception and belief that landfills have to be dirty and harmful the local environment. It actually offered us a lot of things including parks and energy. Although it is true that reducing the amount of trash thrown away is most important, I was glad to see trash being transformed into so many things.

1. landfill with pine tree-shaped gas pipes

2. trucks that carry trash to the landfill

3. a container of fuels made of trash

4. the plant that transforms trash into fuels

5. a golf course built on top of the landfill