The Lifecycle of Municipial Garbage Dumps

Garbage.

Once a week, the trash goes out, and you see the truck passing by. Where does it go after that?

The trash, as it is in the truck, is heading for a transfer station. At this juncture, the trash is put into piles, to go to a landfill. Some other things at this transfer station are recycling and compost.

Then, the trash gets to a landfill, where it is buried in the ground, to decompose, if it can, and to be hidden.

But, what is a landfill? A landfill is a structure, built into the ground. This structure is not meant to get rid of trash, merely to bury it. Out of sight, out of mind.

Landfills, however, are much different from dumps. Dumps are just holes in the ground. Landfills provide less contamination of the environment. Landfills are carefully watched and maintained, for over 30 years after they were closed.

Landfills have many different parts. Some of these are:

• The liner.  There is a special liner in the bottom of the landfill, to make sure that nothing seeps into the dirt and into nearby rivers or the like.
• Cells. The cells are the areas that the trash gets put into. There are old cells and new cells in a landfill.
• Leachate Collection System. This is where the liquids that are trapped in the trash are filtered out. The Cells are slanted, so that the liquids collect in the lowest point, called a sump.
• Methane collection system. Methane is bad for the enviroment, so they collect it with pipes, and either naturally vent it, or control-burn it.
• Storm Water Drainage. You know what this is, don’t you? Storm water drainage is where rain has to be filtered out. This is done by a series of runoffs and ditches, so that loose soil particles do not get out.
• Cover. Don’t you have some idea what this is? All right. Cells have to be covered with either six inches of soil, or some other daily cover, such as a spray-on foam.
• Groundwater Monitoring Stations. This is a station, above-ground, to test water for Leachate chemicals. It uses wells to check groundwater, or the natural water underneath the landfill, for traces of these chemicals, on either side of the landfill.
• The Leachate Collection Tanks. After it has been funneled down to the sump, the leachates are collected into tanks, so that they do not collect and filter to the groundwater, even though there are many liners between them.

Landfills are actually a bad option for the enviroment, mostly because of the methane. A better option would be, at least, to recycle as much as you are able to, as well as to compost. That way, there is less to bother the environment, and a healthy planet.

What happens to recycling that gets collected? It gets put into another transfer station, after sitting next to trash, and it gets sorted into paper, plastic, glass, e-waste, such as computers, and metal. The next thing that happens is that each part goes into a facility, to reform it into something usable. Then, it goes into stores again.

Compost, such as leaves and dead grass, goes to be, well, composted, and turned into dirt. Then, it goes for people to use. It helps to grow things, so it really is a cycle.

If you really want to help the Earth, try to recycle, and reuse the things that you can’t recycle. This helps cut down landfill waste, and makes people happier.