Putting trash in a landfill is one way to get rid of it. A landfill is a place where you can throw away used plastic, paper, glass, aluminium, and rubber. Putting junk in a landfill is one of the most common ways to get rid of it. Every day, junk is put into a hole that is lined with plastic and topped with soil. Landfills should be used for junk that can’t be recycled, like paper, plastic, glass, and packaging that can’t be used again. Landfill is less expensive. But it’s a way to get rid of junk for a long time.
What they do and how
The modern landfill is much cleaner and cares more about keeping the environment safe from the harmful things that can be found there. The first step in making a landfill is to dig a hole. The bottom is then lined with dense clay and high-density plastic sheets to keep leachate, a liquid from a landfill that contains pollutants like volatile compounds, chloride, nitrogen, solvents, phenols, and heavy metals, from seeping into the soil below. Instead, pipes are put in place to collect the leachate and take it to a place where it can be cleaned.
Also, gas extraction wells are often used in modern landfills to get the methane that is made when organic matter breaks down. This methane is usually cleaned up and then used to make electricity. Every day, trash is brought to the site and put in a cell, which is a space of different sizes covered with tarps and soil. When a cell is full, it is closed and a new one is started. When all the cells in a landfill are full, the top is covered with clay and plastic liners, 2 feet of soil, grass, and plants, and then another 2 feet of clay and plastic liners.
Different kinds of landfills
There are three main types of landfills: ones for trash from cities and towns, ones for trash from factories, and ones for dangerous waste.
MSWLFs were made to get rid of trash from homes and other non-dangerous trash. Bioreactor landfills are a type of MSWLF. The waste in these dumps changes quickly and breaks down.
Industrial waste landfills get trash from places like businesses and schools. Even in smaller cities or suburbs, there is a lot of commercial and institutional trash that needs to be thrown away. There are different types of places to dump industrial waste, such as:
C&D Debris is waste from building and tearing down. Landfills are places where things that have been built or torn down can go. These include things like trash from building, remodelling, and tearing down buildings, roads, bridges, etc.
Coal Combustion Residue (CCR) landfills are used to take care of and get rid of the waste left over from burning coal.
The best places to get rid of dangerous waste are hazardous waste landfills. These garbage dumps are the opposite of MSWLFs. Instead of picking up trash, they focus on things that could be dangerous or harmful. Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) landfills are like hazardous waste landfills, but they only work with PCB and materials that are similar to it.
Landfills in North Carolina
Brunswick County Landfill
The Brunswick County Landfill is at 172 Landfill Road NE, SR 1401/Highway 17 in Bolivia, North Carolina. They take junk like yard waste, asbestos that isn’t flammable, construction and demolition waste, asphalt, concrete, roofing materials, and shingles.
Alamance County Landfill
In Graham, North Carolina, the Alamance County Landfill is a place where trash and garbage are buried under layers of soil or other materials. Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the North Carolina state environmental departments are in charge of junk dumps, landfills, and dump sites in Graham. North Carolina is also in charge of making sure places where junk can be dumped have the right permits. Permitting rules decide how the Alamance County Landfill looks, how it works, and what kinds of trash people can put in it.
Beaufort County Landfill
Near State Road 1342 and Hawkins Beach Road in Washington, North Carolina, 27889, you can find the Beaufort County Landfill. They take trash like tyres and materials from building and tearing down.
Are Landfills Bad?
Landfills are bad, not only for the environment but also for our health. In a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States, it is said that landfills will eventually leak, and toxic chemicals will get into our drinking water because of runoff from landfills. The EPA says that landfills are also the third biggest human-made source of methane in the United States.
Methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. This makes it a major reason why we are having a climate crisis. Also, landfills give off gases that could be harmful and smells that spread through neighbourhoods. They are also linked to birth defects and other very serious health problems. Even after they are closed, the sites aren’t completely safe to use as playgrounds, parking lots, sports fields, construction sites, or other things because they can cause the cover to crack and then leak.
