Landfills: Legal, Illegal,Solid Waste

Community refuse disposal areas are nearly as old as public waste management itself. The first municipal waste site in Western Civilization is believed to have been established around 500 B.C. in Athens, Greece. The Council of Athens issued an order prohibiting the dumping of garbage within one mile of the city wall.

American landfills were preceded by disposal areas similar to those of ancient Greece. No efforts were made to compact or cover trash at these unregulated town dumps. Over the years, these illegal dumps have been replaced with sanitary landfills which are sophisticated in design and regulated in every aspect. Landfills are the most widely used solid waste management option. “In 1995, there were approximately 2,500 landfills in America into which we put approximately 57 percent of our municipal solid waste” (1).

A legal landfill is a carefully engineered depression in the ground into which wastes are put. The aim is to avoid any connection between the wastes and the surrounding environment, particularly groundwater. Basically, a landfill is a bathtub in the ground; a double-lined landfill is one bathtub inside another. L

• Methane collection system - collects methane gas that is formed during the breakdown of trash

Reducing waste makes economic sense and saves resources, but controversies over landfills are more likely to focus on where they are built. Biodegradable refuse breaks down extremely slowly in the anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions of a landfill. Garbage dug up such as hotdogs and pastries that were buried for as much as fifteen years were still recognizable. Many newspapers were readable (in fact, they are used to verify when the waste was buried), and grass clippings were green.

The trash production in the United States has almost tripled since 1960. This trash is handled in various ways. About 27 percent of the trash is recycled or composted, 16 percent is burned and 57 percent is buried in landfills. The United States ranks about in the middle of the major countries (United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France and Japan) in landfill disposal. The United Kingdom ranks highest, burying about 90 percent of its solid waste in landfills.

Some topics in this essay:
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