What have students in the Garbage Project learned from studying modern garbage? One important thing they have learned is that the garbage in landfills biodegrade very slowly. That was surprising to the students, as well as to many scientists who had predicted that roughly 70 percent of the garbage in landfills would disappear naturally and quickly. Even in cities where it rains a lot, the students found newspapers from 1948, forty- year-old hot dogs, and lettuce from 1970