Typically once a week we stroll our garbage cans down the driveway and leave them at the curb without a single thought about where it all will go. Out of sight out of mind, right? Well, this garbage that we think we are getting rid of never really becomes nonexistent like we all hoped it would – at least not for some time anyway. Instead, it adopts a new home to clutter like the BFI Carbon Limestone Landfill in Lowellville, Ohio.
This 500-acre landfill serves 22,000 local homes, runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can accept up to 6,500 tons of waste per day. Here is the final destination for our trash, where it’s dumped into plastic lined quarries and compacted by a bulldozer with spiked tires. Six inches of soil is added to cover the garbage and prevent odors. The process of putting down liner, compacting garbage and adding soil is repeated until the hill has reached its height limit. To complete a phase, the final layer is topped with plastic lining and covered with 4 feet of clay and a layer of topsoil. The topsoil is seeded and a large grassy knoll is created, appearing so simple and peaceful.
However, happening underneath these deceiving hills is a crucial process to waste management. As biodegradable wastes (such as paper and food) break down, gases such as methane (50-55%), carbon dioxide (40-45%) and non-organic gases (0-5%) are produced as a result of the oxygen free environment. A total of 200 extraction wells, which are monitored regularly, help in preventing these harmful gases from contaminating groundwater and polluting the air.
The most shocking sight at landfills is the large mounds of trash waiting to be processed. High among the heaps, seagulls and other birds hover and scavenge off the decaying remnants of our lives. It makes you wonder if we are all suffering from affluenza (the addiction to over consume). There’s so much trash and so little land to sacrifice for waste management. There are better solutions for some of our trash, only if we are willing to put forth the effort to reduce, reuse and recycle.
