Disadvantages Of Landfills

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2014, January 10). Landfills, Municipal Solid Waste | US EPA. Retrieved from http://www3.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/landfill.htm

Have you ever wondered where all the trash goes that you throw out? Most of it ends up in landfills, gets burned or ends up on the street. Landfills are the most cost-efficient ways to get rid of trash for places like the United States but at what price. When waste disintegrates in landfills and water passes through the waste, the resulting liquid is called leachate. When leachate run off encounter local rivers and lakes it can contaminate the water and destroy whole eco systems that live in these areas. Landfill gas consists of naturally occurring methane and carbon dioxide, which form inside the landfill as the waste decomposes. As the gases form, pressure builds up inside a landfill, forcing the gases to move. Some of the gases escape through

America currently has a growing population of over 300 million people. Every day the average American produced 4.4 pounds of garbage. As a nation Americans produced over 200 million tons of waste in 2013. Only 34.4 percent of that waste was recovered. Over 65 percent of that garbage is left to rot and pollute the environment. Many other countries face the same epidemic. There are many ways Americans can reduce pollution and keep our planet cleaner, one for those ways for instance is recycling. Recycling defined is to treat or process used or waste materials, to make suitable for reuse. The process starts by knowing what to recycle and how. Understanding the effects and benefits of reprocessing can persuade people to make

America is one of the largest countries along with being one of the largest waste producers in the world. In 2013 Americans generated about 254 million tons of ("Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2013 Fact Sheet"). So where does all of this trash go? Approximately 55% of 220 million tons of waste generated each year in the United States ends up in one of the over 3500 landfills ("Center for Sustainability & Commerce"). This trash that ends up in the landfill consist of metals, steel and aluminum can, plastic bottles, and paper along with other miscellaneous items. The issue with this is that the majority of these items will never decompose and just sit in the ground forever. While other items like paper will eventually decompose there is still a better alternative than putting it into a landfill. This alternative is known as recycling. What can we recycle? What can the average family do to recycle more? Where does trash end up if it is not properly thrown away or recycled? What is the impact of the improperly disposed trash on our environment? What can the government do to help?

In 2012, Americans generated about 251 million tons of trash and recycled and composted almost 87 million tons of this material (“Municipal Solid Waste”). There are many ways to end our environmental crisis, such as reducing our amount of trash, recycling items, and reusing other items.

Americans make more than 200 million tons of garbage each year, enough to fill Busch Stadium from top to bottom twice a day, that’s over 1800 feet! according to Ballparks. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 75% of the American waste stream is recyclable, but we only recycle about 30% of it says Do Something. With the invention of the virtually indestructible material well known as plastic, on top of the rapidly evolving technological world, and the extreme reduction of locations where landfills can be built, it’s hard to believe that 75% of the waste stream in America alone is recyclable, and yet only 30% of it is actually recycled. Recycling is a beneficial solution to many of our increasingly important environmental

The major challenge for both the Gude and Millersville landfills was the threat of contamination from chemical pollution. Neither site managed to escape the stigma associated waste management, however Millersville ultimately had better government intervention and public interest. The Gude landfill is not as fortunate, and also had to contend with the complaints of foul odors emanating from the facility site and permeating the homes of nearby residents. Many homeowners had to endure the smell of rotten eggs, garbage and spoiling fish.

Historically, the state of garbage in California has not been that pleasing. Most of the landfills in the State are currently overused as some continues to get worse with time. This probably is the case because by the year 2013, only 36.6% of the entire waste products in United States were actually recycled. Moreover, according to the findings presented from CalRecycle study, the existing organic wastes constitute 32.4% of all the waste product. Sadly, these organic wastes pose a significant threat to the surrounding environment (Donovan). The common practice of burying solid wastes in a landfill is confirm dangerous to the environment because of the chemicals that later build up beneath the earth surface hence producing Leachate, a poisonous

The United States of America has come a long way since its inception. The development of homes, cars, technologies, goods, and services has evolved. Also, the way in which Americans consume has drastically changed. And with all these great things, came solid waste generation, and unfortunately not methods for disposing of it in an environmentally friendly manner. The United States is the top trash-producing country in the world at over 1,600 pounds per person per year. Although the U.S. accounts for 5% of the world’s population, it generates 40% of the world’s waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2010 “Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled and composted over 85 million tons of materials, resulting in 34.1 percent recycling rate. On average, each American generates about 4.43 pounds of waste each day. Only 1.51 pounds of that material were recycled and composed” (EPA, 2010).

Landfills are getting bigger and are becoming more of a problem in the U.S because they are hazardous to our health and our environment, but there is a way to stop the villain known as a landfill.

Considering, the United States produces way too much waste and we need to start controlling what we are doing to our environment. Americans threw out about 570 billion pounds of waste in 2007. United State citizens are responsible for 30% waste and approximately 1,650 pounds

Landfills have many drawbacks to them. Landfills are not the best way to get rid of the waste that the world puts out. Three major harms of landfills are: they can harm the environment and living organisms around that specific, landfills take up space that people could use to make businesses, homes or parks for the kids in the neighborhood, and people throw things away that can easily be recycled.

The breakdown of food waste in landfill releases nutrients, which can migrate out of landfilled waste and into the surrounding environment. Groundwater and waterways will be polluted because of too many nutrients release in landfills. When it is raining, the landfills may leak and the leaking landfills can pollute the underground water by bringing the polluted rain water into the underground.

Recycling programs are in place all around the world yet most trash still ends up in a landfill. When something is being decomposed, it’s being broken down slowly. When something is being decomposed by living bacteria or other living organisms then it is biodegradable. As an effect of this, eventually, the materials will be fully broken down. In landfills, most materials start to decompose (North and Halden 2013). Materials such as extruded polystyrene foam, plastic, and paper that are in landfills can cause pollution. Pollution is the act of introducing something that will bring harmful effects. Biodegradation helps to reduce the amount of trash in landfills so that landfills do not become full of capacity.

Introduction: Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a complicated process that involves many technological options. In this review, we studied three different health systems effects regarding the impacts of MSW incineration and landfilling as models of managements on three environmental health measures, including global warming (GWP), acidification (AP), and nutrient enrichment (NEP) potentials. We further investigated whether such differences change our approach in the selection of the appropriate management option.