St. Petersburg College has a new reason to be proud of its students! Last year, students in Jeremy Peplow’s Advanced Videography class taped a documentary called Away: A Story of Trash that has now been nominated for an Emmy award.

The documentary, taped at the Pinellas County Solid Waste facility, focused on the public’s perception of where their trash goes after they throw it “away” and how to change it. Rebecca Zarger, Assistant Anthropology Professor at USF, summed up what the goal of this documentary was, “In looking at ways to change (public perception of trash), I think education is a good place to start.” Viewers got a chance to get their own all-access pass to their local waste facility with Away where they learned how the trash turns to electricity, the environmental impacts of landfills, and the ways to prevent them from filling up too fast.

Katie Bishop, the executive producer, and student at St. Petersburg College said about the experience, “It was a lot of fun to be able to produce this film from beginning to end, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to be part of it.” The students got hands-on experience as they were granted access into the solid waste facility, which processes about 2 million tons of garbage per year. The filming also gave students access to the Waste to Energy facility, which turns a large portion of Pinellas County’s waste into energy.

Away: A Story of Trash premiered on WEDU last May, and has played periodically since then. The documentary is nominated for a Suncoast Regional Emmy along with local shows such as Gulf Coast Journal and Florida This Week, which also air on WEDU. The winners will be announced on December 1st in Hollywood, Florida.