Disposal Sites

Landfills

This landfill is where the garbage in Ecoville that hasn't been recycled eventually ends up. Did you know that a landfill is not the same as a dump? A dump is just an open hole where garbage is buried. A landfill is more carefully designed and is built so that the garbage is isolated from the surrounding environment.

Reduce your impact

In order to avoid some of the problems associated with landfills, there are things that you can do at home and at school/work to help reduce the amount of trash you are sending to the landfill. By applying these simple ideas in your life, you could help to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in our landfills.

There are lots of things that you can do at home that will help to reduce the amount of waste that your household is generating. Some things that you can do include:

• Reduce packaging waste. When you are shopping, buying things in bulk or large quantities rather than single serving saves on the amount of packaging and saves you money.

• Buy products made from recycled materials.

• Prevent food waste and compost your organics. By planning meals and shopping trips you can reduce the amount of food that is wasted.

• Take old clothes, furniture and appliances to second-hand stores or hold a garage sale. Also, consider buying second hand products. It will reduce the amount of waste that reaches the landfill and second hand products are usually cheaper.

• Buy well made products that will last you for a long time.

• Get in the habit of buying reusable products rather than disposable products. For example, reusable lunch containers can significantly reduce the waste and not buying single serving portions will save you money.

At the landfill

And now for the dirty part of this report, let's take a few minutes and explain how a landfill works and identify some of the problems that are associated with landfills.

  

In order to understand some of the problems that can occur with a landfill, it is important to know how a landfill is set-up (Figure 1), so, picture a cross-section of a landfill.

Figure 1 - This is a cross section of a municipal solid waste landfill. The arrows show the flow of the leachate. Figure available at: HowStuffWorks.  

The major problem associated with landfills is trying to keep the trash from coming in contact with the environment. The purpose of the bottom liner is to prevent the garbage from coming into contact with the groundwater. However, there is a chance that the liners could leak and contaminate groundwater.

Trash is compacted in landfills to maximize the garbage that they can hold but many current landfills are getting full.

Another problem is that the landfill must remain dry to minimize the amount of leachate that is generated from the landfill.  Leachate is the water that becomes contaminated by seeping through all the garbage.  If this is not properly managed or leaks through a landfill liner, it can pollute our waterways, coastal areas and ground water.  Landfills usually have storm drainage systems to allow leachate to drain from the system into a contained collection pond. Leachate that escapes could contaminate the surrounding environment.

Methane gas is also a problem at landfills. Landfills are airtight and so the waste breaks down anaerobically (in the absence of oxygen). One of the by-products of this decomposition is methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases contribute to climate change.

When a landfill is full, it is covered with a cap and then covered with soil. Even once a landfill is closed there is still an environmental risk. Leachate can still leak out of a closed landfill.