Growing up near rural Missouri, I was used to the aromatic, though far from ambrosial, stench emanating from hog farms, cow pastures and horse barns. Thankfully, I do not notice perfume unless it is right below my nose. God knew what He was doing when He designed me. Drive by a New York landfill on Staten Island, however, and even my inefficient nose will wrinkle with the disgusting fragrances. Staten Island is a landfill. But I don’t need to tell anyone that – the smell tells its own stories.
Thousands of tons of rotting garbage blights the once pretty island as New York City’s 12,000 tons of daily garbage (Lannuci, “Where Does the Garbage Go?”, September 2006) is dumped on Staten Island. And this is not a phenomenon – according to the Environmental Protection Agency, over 3000 licensed landfills currently operate in the United States (2009). Far from the ill-advised composting piles they once were, landfills are now sophisticated places of disposal for much of MSW (Municipal Solid Waste). Different from composting piles, which combines biodegradable materials with microorganisms to convert garbage into fertilizers, soil and the like, landfills are engineered spaces to dispose of waste, toxic and non-toxic alike.
Landfills are not abandoned empty ponds or neighborhood alleyways. Under strenuous legislation such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976) and the Land Disposal Restriction Act (1984), landfills must meet definite requirements to be licensed. But people remain in fear of pollution, envisioning images of local Chernobyls turning children green and killing flora and fauna. This phobia is outdated.
Under the influence of environment groups like Zero Waste, the Sierra Club, the United Nations Environment Programme and others, eliminating pollution is the tallest order for landfills (www.zerowaste.org, 2009. There are several ways a shoddy landfill can pollute its neighboring environment.
The groundwater from rain seeps through putrid garbage through the soil into freshwater sources, where it spreads the pollution. To stifle leachate runoff, every landfill must demonstrate its ability to contain leachate through clay, synthetic, rock and other types of linings, and have a place to store the toxic fluid (www.epa.gov, 2010).
When landfills were merely abandoned compost piles, they destroyed natural habitat and offered a grotesque residence from neighboring vermin. Now, barriers are erected to prevent natural wildlife from entering the landfill, in order to avoid infestations of vermin.
Decomposing garbage emanates toxic methane gas. This occurs under two conditions: either the garbage has a substantial amount of biodegradable substance, or there is so much waste that there is not enough oxygen and nitrogen available for decomposition – an unfortunate result of trash compaction (www.wikipedia.org, 2010). However, under legislation, at methodical intervals, waste is generally capped by a layer of fresh soil (another requirement – landfills must have sufficient land from which to glean extra top soil) which prevents escape of toxic methane gas.
The last type of pollution is flue gas. When garbage is burned, unless it is burned through plasma-arc gasification (at which temperatures exceed 25,000 degrees Fahrenheit) it emits dioxin, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and other toxic gases (www.greenpeace.org, 2009). Advanced incineration methods, such as rotary-kiln systems, reduce gaseous pollution. What is left is contained in flue grates and deposited in a controlled area (www.epa.gov, 2010).
Pollution remains a contentious issue. Many organizations refuse to accept the legitimacy of landfills and composting piles, citing pollution, destruction of habitat and other problems. However, history has a way of undermining our pretentious grandiosity. According to a study at Elmhurst University in 1990, over 80% of garbage is landfilled, and the EPA claims the majority of waste is still landfilled today (www.epa.gov, 2010) – so much for landfill reduction. Due to the described regulations and advances in engineering, the pollution hazard has been greatly reduced. Although pollution is still a threat and must be contained, living in fear of landfill pollution is like refusing to fly in airplanes because of the Hindenburg.
