23 Jan Waste’s Final Destination
Many years ago waste or trash had just been tossed out of living areas. In cities human waste was just thrown onto the streets or outside their house’s gates. As the population grew in the cities, illnesses spread and mankind realized that throwing waste into the streets was a main reason of the spread of devastating diseases in the cities. Many diseases outspread by the bacteria that rats harbored, and contaminated water supplies such as Cholera, Bubonic Plague, and Typhoid fever. During the 1800’s the relation between sewage, trash, and disease was discovered and by the late 1800’s cities created garbage collection and disposal systems using horse-drawn carts to collect garbage and dispose of it in incinerators, open dumps, or at sea.
By the 20th century, waste was regularly collected and incineration which was the common method of disposal. In the 1920’s it was common for incinerator ash, garbage, and dirt to be used to fill in swamps near cities which allowed the contamination of groundwater. The precursor to the modern landfill was first trialed in California in 1935. Trash was thrown into a hole in the ground that was periodically covered with dirt. In 1959 the American Society of Civil Engineers first published guidelines for a ‘sanitary landfill’ that suggested compacting waste and covering it with a layer of soil each day to reduce odors and control rodents.
Uses of Landfills
- Burying waste in landfills can produce energy and can be recovered by the conversion of landfill gas.
- The products of landfills waste can be used as a fuel for combustion or they can be processed into biofuels.
- When finishing with a landfill, it can be turned into farming land or parks.
- In a well-designed landfill, the organic waste can be separated and used in the production of natural gas (CH4).
- Landfills can capture the CH4 or natural gas that is produced by the underground decomposing materials.
Challenges of Landfills
- Landfills can pollute the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. Areas around landfills can become polluted.
- It is difficult to keep hazardous chemicals from entering pathways into sensitive receptors surrounding a poorly operated landfill.
- Hazardous chemicals can leak into the groundwater system.
- Many rodents and insects are attracted to landfills and can spread dangerous diseases.
- Illness and diseases can affect the communities living in the landfill.
Despite the various new technologies that are developing for waste disposal, landfilling still remains the most common solution in most countries. Landfills can be very useful in the production of energy and natural gas. However, they have many serious threats to the immediate environment. In my opinion, people’s health is much more important than the advantages of a landfill. In addition, people should be made aware of the landfill’s negative effects so they can take more action to avoid their waste entering landfill such as recycling or reusing items before discarding them. I hope to see new technologies advance our waste management so we can head to a more sustainable future.
Moreover, my advice is for you to coordinate with waste treatment and disposal service provider, like us, at the Green Mountains. We have a range of services like the collection, recycling, cleaning, treatment, and most of all, environmental services. We provide waste recycling management, hazardous waste management, wastewater treatment and many more intensive waste treatment services in the UAE, that help in maintaining the cleanliness and orderliness of our surroundings.