Dealing with waste

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Dealing with waste

• Part I - Landfills

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D18

• Explain the short- and long-term impacts of
  landfills and incineration of waste materials on
  the quality of the environment.

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There are 3,091 active sanitary landfills in the
U.S. and over 10,000 old municipal landfills
(rubbish pits).
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The Throwaway Age

• According to social critic Vance Packard, we are
  living in the Throwaway Age, the name given to
  an era where every person in an industrialized
  nation produces about
• four pounds of waste each day
• Freudenrich, Craig C., Ph.D. How Landfills
  Work. 2003. http//people.howstuffworks.com/landf
  ill.htm.          

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Vocabulary

• Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) trash (or garbage)
  generated by people and industry.
• Landfill a site for the disposal of waste
  materials by burial.
• Transfer station a place where municipal solid
  waste is collected prior to the waste going to
  the landfill.
• Per capita per person.

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Vocabulary

• Leachate the liquid that seeps from the MSW in a
  landfill, which may be toxic.
• Vector any animal or pest attracted to the
  garbage in landfills. They may spread disease.
• Groundwater the water that is under the ground.
  This water is commonly used as a drinking water
  source. It can be contaminated by leachate.

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Rubbish Pit vs. Sanitary Landfill

• Rubbish pits contain no liners.
• Sanitary landfills include groundwater protection.

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Anatomy of a Landfill
Modern sanitary landfills are carefully
engineered structures designed to isolate garbage
from nearby water, soil, wildlife, and people.
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How is a Sanitary Landfill made?
The cavities are dug out of the ground and then
the walls are sealed with layers of clay and
coated with plastic to prevent groundwater
contamination from wastewater that accumulates.
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The Liner
Note the overlapping seams!
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Today's landfills are designed to stay dry
inside, except for liquids that ooze from some
garbage, and rainwater that trickles through. As
water trickles through a landfill, it dissolves
chemicals and other particles, creating a liquid
called "leachate."
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• There are four critical elements in a secure
  landfill
• a bottom liner
• a leachate collection system
• a gas recovery system and a cover
• the natural hydrogeologic setting

The natural setting can be selected to minimize
the possibility of wastes escaping to groundwater
beneath a landfill. The three other elements must
be engineered. Each of these elements is
critical to success.
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Cross-Section of a Landfill
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What is done with the Leachate?
The state-of-the-art system, constructed at the
bottom of the landfill, has a special
double-liner to prevent leachate leakage. The
contained leachate is run through pipes to
above-ground storage tanks and hauled for
treatment and disposal at a large regional
wastewater treatment plant.
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Even though there are 2 liners that overlap to
keep leachate from leaking out there is always
that slim chance. So to help protect the public,
landfills are also designed with

• detection meters between the liners which are
  monitored continuously
• monitoring wells around the site which are
  sampled quarterly to test the groundwater quality

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The Capping of a FULL Landfill
Hartford Landfill
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So...landfill garbage degrades, right?
Not really. Landfills are mostly anaerobic.
Without the oxygen and water needed to break down
organic materials, all garbage decays very slowly
in a landfill. This means our garbage will
probably be around for a very long time.
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40 Yr-old Newspaper found in Landfill
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Even food does NOT degrade
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Amount of Trash Thrown in Landfills (by weight)
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Plastics
Plastics can take between 200-400 years to
degrade. Only 3 of it is currently recycled.
Yard Waste
Green Waste (leaves, twigs, Christmas trees)
can be shredded and used as mulch or composted.
Paper Cardboard
Nationwide, paper cardboard account for 41 of
all municipal solid waste. Only about 34.5 is
recycled in the U.S.
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Metal
Recycling aluminum reduces both air and water
pollution by more than 95 due to less energy
needed to mine process it. Only 38 of cans are
recycled.
Glass
Glass was one of the first to be recycled and
continues to lead all others in recycled. It is
the easiest recycled material to use and is the
most cost efficient.
Food Waste
15.8 million tons of food goes to waste in the
U.S. every year. Vegetable plant matter can be
composted (NOT meat or fats) and used for mulch.
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What short-term problems are caused by landfills?

• Trucks used to collect and move trash both
  locally and at the landfill are noisy.
• Landfills are unsightly.
• Landfills and garbage trucks stink!

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Trucks Moving Trash
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What long-term problems are caused by landfills?

• Several types of problems are caused
• Water Problems
• Soil Problems
• Environmental Problems

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Water Problems
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Leachate Problems
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Issues Concerning Water Flow Through a Landfill

• When water (moisture) flows through a landfill,
  it picks up toxic substances found in waste,
  creating leachate.
• Water causes leachate to flow down through the
  landfill and it may contaminate groundwater.

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Issues Concerning Water Flow Through a Landfill

• Contaminated groundwater can disrupt the
  ecosystem by poisoning people, plants, and other
  wildlife.

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Soil Problems
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What effects does a landfill have on the soil?

• Soil contamination
• Materials can leach out of the landfill, and
  taint the soil with chemicals and solid waste
• Possible increase in Mercury concentrations in
  the soil.
• Common sources of mercury in landfills include
  electrical switches, fluorescent light bulbs

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Environmental Problems
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Environmental Problems

• Landfills create air pollution (methane, mercury
  etc)
• Landfills need space!
• This leads to habitat destruction
• Do you want one in your backyard?
• NIMBY
• Look at some pictures

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Delaware
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Environmental Effects Continued

• Landfills require the use of large, heavy
  machines!
• These contribute to noise pollution and air
  pollution
• The heavy machinery releases CO2 which
  contributes to the greenhouse effect.

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What will be Your future?
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The Example of Love Canal

• Love Canal is a 16-acre landfill in the southeast
  corner of the City of Niagara Falls, New York,
  about 0.3 mile north of the Niagara River.
• In the 1890s, a canal was excavated to provide
  hydroelectric power.
• Instead, it was later used by Hooker
  Electrochemical for disposal of over 21,000 tons
  of various chemical wastes. Dumping ceased in
  1952, and in 1953 the disposal area was covered
  and deeded to the Niagara Falls Board of
  Education.

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Love Canal

• Construction occurred near the site, including an
  elementary school and numerous homes. 
• Odors and residues were reported during the
  1960s, and increased in the 1970s as the water
  table rose, bringing contaminated ground water to
  the surface.
• Residents suffered a high incidence of cancer and
  neurological effects.

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Love Canal

• Numerous toxic chemicals migrated into
  surrounding areas. This run-off drains upstream
  of the intake tunnels for the Niagara Falls'
  water treatment plant.
• After years of remediation activities, Love Canal
  was de-listed as a Superfund site in 2004.
  (USEPA)

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Love Canal Article

• Read the article Learning from Love Canal
• Respond to the questions on the worksheet.
• Be prepared to discuss your responses in class