It's time for another look at methods in waste reduction and this time it’s all about bio-reactor landfills. Bio-reactor landfills are specially designed landfills that can be very effective and environmentally useful if set up and used properly. The landfills use a system of water and oxygen circulation in the landfill to speed up decomposition of waste and produce biogases such as methane much faster than the natural process.

This is where the bio-reactor landfills can turn into an environmental hazard as opposed to an environmental help. Methane gas is up to 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide and if allowed to release into the atmosphere will greatly speed up the effects of global warming. This is why the bio-reactor landfill must be properly designed and set up so that the gases released can be collected and stored for use in generating electricity. And just like that it goes from hazard to help.

There are two different kinds of bio-reactor landfills called aerobic and anaerobic. Both types use water in the process but only aerobic uses oxygen in the process as well. Anaerobic bio-reactor landfills actually speed up the process of decomposition and increase gas production by anywhere up to ten times the rate resulting in a much greater amount of methane and other gases which can be used to generate energy. Energy produced in this way is quicker and more economical than using gases produced from regular landfills where the waste takes much longer to decompose.

A lot of water is used in the process of a bio-reactor landfill, but the good news about that is it doesn’t need to be clean water that could be put to better use. Water from waste treatment plants, food processing plants, and even septic waste, which would all normally be wasted, can be used in this process and may even be more beneficial in this application than regular water would be. The process is also an alternative to water-generated electricity and may eventually help us save water used for that so it could potentially balance out quite nicely.

Bio-reactor landfills may be expensive for so cities and towns to set up initially, but they could be very useful in waste reduction and eventually end up saving money or even generating money as an alternative energy source. If set up and operated correctly this process could have a very positive impact on the environment by speeding up waste degradation, utilizing waste water, and collecting the biogases that would other wise be released into the atmosphere.