Leachate is a major problem in landfills. Leachate starts out as water seeping down through the garbage. It then dissolves chemicals and decomposes garbage, therefore it will contain toxic chemicals. Leachate sometimes will leak into groundwater which will make well water unable to drink. At almost all landfills leachate has been found in the ground states the EPA. In order to stop leachate the Research Conservation and Recovery Act, also known as the RCRA, was passed in 1976 and was amended and updated in 1984. It stated that instead of waste just being dumped in open pits, new landfills that are built must be lined with clay or plastic liners. They also must have systems for treating leachate. These additions do help better protect the soil and groundwater, but make landfills more expensive to build and therefore space is becoming more and more scarce. This new law, however, does not solve all of the problems. Sooner or later the liners will start to deteriorate and methane and leachate will leak out. Garbage that is put in these newer landfills also seems not to decompose as easily as garbage in the older, not as compact landfills. Instead it almost "preserves" it. This is good in one way because no fumes or leachate is produced because no decomposing is taking place. Space for landfills will also eventually run out. The costs of dumping wastes in landfills has also greatly increased, which makes it all the more important to find alternatives and quick. Prices used to be 25 to 30 dollars a ton for dumping wastes in landfills. Now, in some Northeastern states it has risen to over 130 dollars a ton where space is in limited quantites.
One alternative to sending waste to landfills is by burning it in and incinerator. Incinerators burn waste, which compacts it, but the ash is more toxic than normal solid waste. Most incinerators were built in the 1980's. The newer incinerators are not only being used to save space in landfills, but they are also being used as an energy producer.