Emma Nelson’s summer was spent outside, hanging out on trails, and talking to people about waste.

Nelson, a University of Iowa senior, worked at Mount Trashmore in Cedar Rapids as an intern with the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency.

The site was formerly a landfill and was closed in 2012. In 2018, it opened to the public as a recreation area during limited hours with trails for walking and biking. 

She discovered this experience on Handshake, formerly Hire-a-Hawk, and found that it was a perfect mesh of her two areas of study — public health and environmental health. She hopes that this experience opens up opportunities for her to find a career at a landfill someday.

Engaging with the public was a key aspect of Nelson’s role at Mount Trashmore. 

“A lot of people had a lot of questions about it, like why aren’t there trees on it? Why isn’t there a better shelter on top?” she said. “It’s all because of the landfill.”

For 30 years after a site like this is closed to waste and sealed, it is still categorized as a landfill. The hill itself is sinking gradually as the waste inside decomposes. Methane, a byproduct of decomposition, is piped out of the hill and flared off. The hill isn’t stable enough to have paved walkways, and the soil isn’t deep enough to sustain trees or other plants with deep roots. 

Nelson said having the landfill open for the public to see is vital for creating awareness about how much waste humans produce, and how much of it has no use after it is thrown away. 

“I think it’s important to be able to see a mountain of waste that we created,” she said. “I think it’s important that we address it.”