As our global population continues on a steady rise so does our product consumption, which naturally leads to an increase in waste production. The vast amount of waste that we are manufacturing ultimately lands up in our oceans, lakes, rivers, alley ways, backyards and parks creating what are known as garbage towns. This would introduce health risks to individuals and the community as a whole. These risks could also include exposure to dangerous chemicals that poses detrimental effects on the environment. To avoid this from happening governments have created landfills. Landfills are a “place to dispose of refuse and other waste material by burying it and covering it over with soil, especially as a method of filling in or extending usable land.” (Webster Dictionary). In an even more extravagant attempt to keep waste material out of the streets and non biodegradable products out of the ground and keeping organic material together governments have added recycling and composting plants to landfills to make waste management centres. In waste management centres they may separate the material there and transport it to its respective plant, or have the respective plants built in. We researched the effects and consequences of constructing and operating a landfill in the north west area, there are various benefits and drawbacks of said waste management centre. After weighing the pros and cons based on our specific region, we decided to accept the idea of a landfill operating in our
In addition, there exist some environmental risks related to producing landfill. Even though the Australian Federal Government is not offering incentives to repurpose waste, some communities and State and Local governments are offering incentives for this practice. The main purpose of this is to avoid the disposing of waste in landfills, due to the fact that it requires so much time, energy and space, injuring our planet's health (McCabe,
Currently, landfills are responsible for 15 million tonnes of C02 in our atmosphere each year. When garbage decomposes, it creates methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This contributes to greenhouse gasses and damages the ozone layer. Landfills take up space, as well as being dangerous and toxic. Rubbish that ends up in our oceans can cause harm to our marine life and poison our water.
Recycling is known very well to most of the United States. It has been a buzzword since my childhood in the 80's. However, many towns and metropolitans, including my home town of Savannah, have trouble getting their residents to actively participate in the recycling programs. There are many reasons people can site for not participating, some are personal issues, and some are those of the city itself. The first that comes to mind far too often is even though most solid waste can be sorted and recycled, the amount that is picked up is not even half as frequent. From a city stand point, expansion of the program itself may cause a hemorrhaging of money that can't be undone. Landfills have been an environmentally sound option for years, but they all have the same problem of finite space. On the surface it seems simple, but nothing is ever that easy. Both recycling programs and landfills cost large amounts of capital to maintain. With the goal of an environmentally stable city, landfills and their finite space will always be a problem. With vision and drive maybe the tables can be turned.
Landfills are waste that are packed closely in mounds which are sealed beneath rubber and clay barrier, which is then over a liner that keeps liquids from bursting out. Waste is constantly added to than landfill until it reaches it maximum capacity. Once that happens it is then coved with clay and another plastic cover. Finally, that cover is piled on with numerous feet of
Scientifically and economically, we know the garbage we produce can be used to improve our nation, but we choose to slack off and not take advantage of the waste that is claimed by landfills. Consequently. citizens think that leaving their so
Puente Hills, a landfill in Las Angeles, is notoriously known. The dump is filled with things that could have been recycled and composted rather than just thrown into the trash heap. The book also mentioned the 55-year-old man’s body buried among the garbage, which is absurd that the pile was so large that no one could find him. All of the landfills produce atmospheric gasses including methane leading to climate change. With landfills pilling up and becoming television shows, tourist attractions, families, communities, and other countries are stepping up in order to dig our way out from underneath the waste and create a healthier environment once again. How they all manage their resources now, and into the future, will be influenced by these
Anywhere you look around the United States landfills can be found. If you are lucky enough to pass by one, the site is probably seen reaching capacity. Sometimes you might not even see them before your nose catches the putrid scent. These landfill sites sure are not popular but they are very much a necessity to our lives. Imagine what we would do with all the trash if we did not have somewhere to go with it? Unfortunately, landfill sites do have negative side effects on the environment. Three of the top concerns related to landfills are toxins released in the air coming from items such as electronic waste, liquid trash contaminating the land and waterways, and greenhouse gas emissions like methane. With the world on watch with heightened awareness
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
Landfills are mostly composed of non-biodegradable waste which takes a long time to decompose. Recycling old and waste products into new products will reduce the amount of waste that enters landfills across the nation. Doing so helps in reducing water and land pollution as landfills are a major source in contributing to destruction of natural environment. Recycling programs keeps enormous amounts of waste from being deposited into landfills every year allowing for unused land to be preserved for other uses rather than another waste site. Also, if we don’t recycle, more and more garbage will enter the landfills until they are all used up. When that happens, where will the new waste be placed and would you like to have a landfill as a backyard? According to the Bear Spring Blossom (BSB), “Landfills are a ticking time bombs-producing unknown gases and chemicals” (“Recycling”). Also, it goes on to state, “Recycling helps to reduce landfill space and disposal costs” (“Recycling”). Even though reducing the size of landfills is a notable benefit, there are other things that benefit from
To begin with landfills are bad for our health because of leachate and E-waste. Bisnessdictnary.com defined leachate as “Water escaping from a landfill site which, if not collected, will contaminate the natural water sources.” Which means that trash is ruining our good water places, and we need water everyday. Infixit.org defined E-waste as“When electronics end up in landfills, toxics like lead, mercury, and cadmium leach into the soil and water.” Thoes toxics are very bad for your health and can damage your lungs, kidneys, and other
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.
Landfills are a growing problem yet statistics claim that landfills have gone down from 8,000 landfills in the 80’s to 3,000 landfills today. While this is true, it is misleading as it failed to mention that as the years have passed, many have switched from small, local landfills to mega-landfills. Facts like these often understate the issue as landfills are a vague topic for most, needing more public attention and discussion. Landfills will take 450 years at minimum to degrade and when decomposed, turns into many toxic products. It takes up so much space while simultaneously ruining the soil for future farming use. This is important for the ever growing population where space is getting more valuable and early precautions will definitely help.
Landfills are bad for our environment because buildings a regional landfill could also negatively impact the property values of surrounding properties. One more fuat is the risk for groundwater contamination is too great. For my last example is there's already a problem with loose trash on commonly traveled routes to the existing transfer station.
Landfill growth is inevitable. As landfills grow, they release toxic chemicals in the air and harmful pollutants into groundwater. These hazardous chemicals make our tap water undrinkable and our air unbreathable. Residents who live near landfills are most likely to encounter health problems. A few of these problems include: lung and respiratory problems, heart disease, nervous system damage, and cancerous illness. Residents who live nowhere near a landfill may think they are safe, when the risk may be just as high. The truth is, no matter if you live across the road from a landfill, or if you live 100 miles away, everyone is at risk. To better understand how people hundreds of miles away are at risk, it’s important to know how landfills came about, what kinds of toxins landfills produce and how they travel, and what can be done.
There are some reasons for the problem. The first reason is that the effects of the thrown rubbish are very dangerous and extremely harmful. According to Miller (1987), global industrial organizations produce over 80,000 different chemicals (para. 5). Basically, garbage is old, dirty and wet, so that it is a perfect place for bacteria and other viruses to stay in. Rubbish growth in cities has been a problem all over the world for centuries. Landfills have always been regarded as sources of illnesses and unpleasant smells. The harmful wastes from the garbage spread through the ground from paint, chemicals, petrol, batteries, and other toxic materials that have been thrown away into the garbage. The toxic chemicals get into the water pipes and spread through the people’s drinking water. Another reason of that problem is that people have created all these disasters, which are connected with environmental pollution. The more modern technologies are created, the more unbelievable become wastes and remains of what is produced. From this, man is responsible for what he or she created and for the following consequences. Anxieties about the environment have made people more aware of their environmental footprints or the kind of waste they leave behind during their existence. The difficulty is that an average person leaves an incredible amount of wastes in his or her lifetime. According to Lovejoy (1912), all biodegradable substances, contained in