Landfills are an important part of waste management. Yet, many people think a landfill is nothing more than a hole in the ground where waste is thrown. In reality, there are very specific parts involved with landfills, all of which work together to prevent contamination between the waste and the surrounding environment. Here is a look at the parts that can be found in a landfill.

The Bottom Liner

The bottom liner is the part of the landfill that separates and prevents the buried waste from coming in contact with the underlying soils and groundwater. This layer is typically constructed from a durable, puncture-resistant synthetic plastic HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) that ranges from 30 to 100 mils thick.

Cells

Every landfill also features cells, which range in size from a few acres to 20 acres or more depending upon the amount of waste the landfill receives each day. The larger cells contain smaller cells that are known as the daily workface. This is where the incoming waste is prepared each day. The waste is placed in layers or lifts where it is then compacted and shredded by heavy landfill compaction machinery.

Leachate Collection System

The bottom portion of the landfill is generally sloped to a low point to draw down the liquids that are trapped inside the landfill. This waste, which is known as leachate, is collected and removed from the landfill. This is typically accomplished with the help of a series of perforated pipes, gravel packs and a layer of sand or gravel that is placed at the bottom of the landfill. The leachate is typically pumped or gravity-flowed to a holding tank or pond where it is then either hauled off site or treated on site.

Storm Water Drainage

The storm water drainage portion of the landfill is an engineered system that is designed to control water runoff when it rains. This is accomplished by directing the runoff through a series of ditches or berns into holding areas. Referred to as sed ponds, these holding areas slow down the water long enough to along suspended soil particles to settle before the water is discharged.

Methane Collection System

As the bacteria breaks down the trash in the landfill, it produces gas. Approximately 50 percent of this gas is methane, which has the potential to burn or explode. Therefore, it is removed through a series of pipes that are embedded in the landfill and specifically designed to collect methane gas. Once the gas is collected, it is either naturally vented or control-burned.

Cover

The cover, or cap, is compacted soil or some alternative material that is placed over the waste in a cell each day. The cover is generally six inches thick, though it may be 12 to 18 inches thick if it is placed over waste where no additional waste or cover will be placed for a period of time. Covering the waste in this way isolates  the waste from exposure to the air and pests while also helping to control odors.

Separating your recyclable materials may sometimes feel like a time-consuming burden. You may even wonder at times if the extra effort is worthwhile and if you are really making any kind of difference when you sort your plastics or peel labels from your bottles. The reality is that recycling really does have a significant impact on the earth. In addition, it also has a positive impact on the economy as well as other aspects of your life that you may not have considered. In fact, here are some interesting facts to back up the importance of recycling.

Helping Businesses

Many companies in the United States rely upon recycling programs to help them obtain the raw materials they need to make new products. Not only does this help to keep these materials out of landfills, but it also helps these businesses keep their costs down while producing products for consumers. This, in turn, helps the economy by keeping the cost of products down while also providing workers with jobs.

Creating Jobs

In addition to the jobs that are created by businesses and supported by recycling, the recycling industry itself provides numerous jobs throughout the country. As a $236 billion per year industry, the recycling industry employs 1.1 million workers in more than 56,000 recycling and reuse enterprises.

Reducing Energy Waste

Producing products from recycled goods helps to reduce energy waste. This is because producing a product from scratch requires the use of a greater amount of energy than producing a product from recyclable materials. Manufacturing with recycled aluminum cans, for example, uses 95% less energy than starting over with virgin materials.

Preserving Natural Resources

Natural resources are also saved when manufacturers use recyclable material instead of creating the materials from scratch.

Conserving Land

No one wants to live next to a landfill, which means the land used for the landfill as well as the surrounding property is essentially lost to waste. By reducing the amount of waste that makes it to landfills, we can better maintain the natural beauty of an area or the land can be put to better use, such as building housing or recreational facilities.

Preventing Global Warming

According to experts, recycling solid waste in the year 2000 helped to prevent the release of 32.9 million metric tons of carbon equivalent into the air. This, in turn, helps to prevent and slow down the process of global warming.

Reducing Pollution and Protecting Wildlife

Manufacturing good from recycled materials generates less water pollution than manufacturing the same products from virgin materials. Similarly, using recycled materials reduces the need to damage forests, rivers and wetlands in order to obtain virgin materials, thereby protecting the ecosystems that are essential to wildlife.

Shockingly, the average America discards seven and a half pounds of garbage every day. Most of this garbage ends up in landfills where it is compacted and buried. With the help of recycling programs, you can significantly reduce the amount of waste that you contribute to these landfills. In addition, you can feel good about knowing that you are helping to protect the environment while also supporting employment throughout the country.

A new, comprehensive study has shown just how much plastic is bobbing in our planet’s oceans.

On December 10, The Guardian reported that “more than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes, are floating in the world’s oceans, causing damage throughout the food chain, new research has found.”

The piece went on to note that “Data collected by scientists from the US, France, Chile, Australia and New Zealand suggests a minimum of 5.25tn plastic particles in the oceans, most of them “micro plastics” measuring less than 5mm.”

The volume of plastic pieces, largely deriving from products such as food and drink packaging and clothing, was calculated from data taken from 24 expeditions over a six-year period to 2013. The research, published in the journal PLOS One, is the first study to look at plastics of all sizes in the world’s oceans.

Large pieces of plastic can strangle animals such as seals, while smaller pieces are ingested by fish and then fed up the food chain, all the way to humans.

This is problematic due to the chemicals contained within plastics, as well as the pollutants that plastic attract once they are in the marine environment.

“We saw turtles that ate plastic bags and fish that ingested fishing lines,” said Julia Reisser, a researcher based at the University of Western Australia. “But there are also chemical impacts. When plastic gets into the water it acts like a magnet for oily pollutants.

“Bigger fish eat the little fish and then they end up on our plates. It’s hard to tell how much pollution is being ingested but certainly plastics are providing some of it.”

The researchers collected small plastic fragments in nets, while larger pieces were observed from boats. The northern and southern sections of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans were surveyed, as well as the Indian ocean, the coast of Australia and the Bay of Bengal.

The vast amount of plastic, weighing 268,940 tonnes, includes everything from plastic bags to fishing gear debris.

While spread out around the globe, much of this rubbish accumulates in five large ocean gyres, which are circular currents that churn up plastics in a set area. Each of the major oceans have plastic-filled gyres, including the well-known ‘great Pacific garbage patch’ that covers an area roughly equivalent to Texas.

Reisser said traversing the large rubbish-strewn gyres in a boat was like sailing through “plastic soup.”

“You put a net through it for half an hour and there’s more plastic than marine life there,” she said. “It’s hard to visualise the sheer amount, but the weight of it is more than the entire biomass of humans. It’s quite an alarming problem that’s likely to get worse.”

The research found that the gyres themselves are likely to contribute to the problem, acting as “shredders” to the plastic before dispersing it.

“Our findings show that the garbage patches in the middle of the five subtropical gyres are not the final resting places for the world’s floating plastic trash,” said Marcus Eriksen, another of the report’s co-authors. “The endgame for micro-plastic is interactions with entire ocean ecosystems.”

The research, the first of its kind to pull together data on floating plastic from around the world, will be used to chart future trends in the amount of debris in the oceans.

But researchers predict the volume will increase due to rising production of throwaway plastic, with only 5% of the world’s plastic currently recycled.

“Lots of things are used once and then not recycled,” Reisser said. “We need to improve our use of plastic and also monitor plastics in the oceans so we get a better understanding of the issue.

“I’m optimistic but we need to get policy makers to understand the problem. Some are doing that – Germany has changed the policy so that manufacturers are responsible for the waste they produce. If we put more responsibility on to the producer then that would be part of the solution.”

While governments sort out exactly what kind of regulations ought to be written and enforced on manufacturers, remember to do YOUR part, and recycle!