Trashasaurus Facing Extinction!

Children's Garbage Museum in danger of closing

Every year, thousands of kids travel to Stratford to visit the Children's Garbage Museum, but time may be running out.

"We've been here since 1993.  What we do is, we teach people how to take care of their environment by recycling and by thinking before they throw something in the trash," said Paul Nonnenmacher, Director of Public Affairs at the CT Resources Recovery Authority.

One attraction at the garbage museum is a trash-a-saurus, a one-ton dinosaur made from trash thrown in dumpsters and landfills.

β€œIt depicts 2,000 pounds, which is how much trash each person makes of trash in Connecticut every year," Education Supervisor Sotoria Montanari said.

At the museum, visitors learn the importance of recycling. They also get a bird's eye view of the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority's recycling center. That's where your recyclables go when they leave your house.

"For many years, this museum has been funded by money we get from recyclables that are brought to the adjacent recycling center," said Nonnenmacher.

But the museum has a major problem. Those contracts end on June 30 and the recycling center will make less money on new contracts that go into effect after the 30th. There will be no money left to run the museum.

"The situation is pretty grim. We're down three runs in the bottom of the 8th and the Yankees have Rivera warming up in the bullpen," said Nonnenmacher.

Until then, the museum is working to get the word out about its dire situation, hoping someone steps in to help so it can continue to education young people.

"We hope the impact will be that it empowers them to go home and actually make a difference, to teach their parents to recycle more to think about reusing items," said Montanari. 

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