Cyprus context
These are not stand-alone pages, but
complements to the above ones.
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A landfill is an area of land that has been consecrated to receiving
garbage, rubbish or waste. This can vary from a properly managed concern
to "fly dumps" where individuals simply dispose of unwanted material.
There exist some special-purpose landfills, such as to receive
hazardous materials.
Generally speaking, most landfills constitute an admission of failure
because of the value of waste that is ignored.
Cartoon: © Environment Canada 2008 (with permission)
The cartoon merits a good look, because it provides a graphic image
of all the different kinds of waste that people allow to be simply
dumped. In reality, it is shocking because most of the items shown can
be recycled: there is no need to throw them away like that.
- Telephone book, newspaper, kitchen paper roll and other paper
can be recycled into good paper: if it is soiled, it can be
recovered for its energy.
- Plastic bucket, goblet, toys, hamburger box etc. can be recycled
into new plastic articles. If the type is unidentifiable, it can be
recovered for its energy
- PET bottles and aluminium drinks cans must be recycled: they are
valuable items.
- Tools, tin cans, cookers and other metal items have scrap metal
value
- Apples, bananas, cakes, and other foodstuffs should never have
been bought to throw them away; if they have been and they're past
their use by date, this is bad household management. Nevertheless,
they can be recovered for their energy.
- Jeans, shoes, ties and other apparel: they can sometimes be
recycled as rags or they can be recovered for their energy.
- Tyres, inner tubes and other vulcanised rubber can be recovered
for their considerable energy, along with wooden items.
In reality, there is little that needs to be dumped into a landfill,
least of all
household garbage, which can provide 9 percent of the electricity
that the household uses!
Hazardous waste
Photo: US EPA in public domain
This moonscape shows what can happen when hazardous materials are
indiscriminately dumped. Not only does the whole area become sterile, it
is likely to remain so for decades. Capping it is not a solution,
because the toxic materials can travel underground and emanations are
the probable outcome, so the land is useless for farming or
construction. If this happens, the only solution is the extremely
expensive one of removing all the hazmats and the contaminated soil,
analysing them and treating them accordingly. Remediation is never a
better solution than prevention.
It must be assumed that all landfills, especially older ones, contain
hazardous waste. Leaching contaminated water can enter both surface
water and ground water at considerable distances from the site. A useful
document describing the problems in the UK has been published[1].
The use of a search engine on the Internet will lead to hundreds of
horror stories.
Cemeteries
Cemeteries are another form of landfill with hazardous waste, not
only the organic waste from the deceaseds' bodies, but mercury from
amalgam fillings, toxic embalming fluids, coffins and their
constructional materials (some lead-lined) etc.[2]
Unfortunately, our culture forbids the recycling of humans into, say,
pet food or energy, or even laying them out for the vultures and crows!
Even cremation is not without its dangers!
Nuisances
Landfills are inevitably a nuisance. At the best, the polluting
transit of garbage collection vehicles or similar is a source of carbon
dioxide emissions. Then there is the fact that they are inevitably an
eyesore with rubbish often blown into neighbouring properties. The
landfill gas emanations are severe greenhouse gases (methane and carbon
dioxide), often with a nauseating odour, which can constitute a severe
nuisance over a considerable distance depending on weather conditions.
If they contain animal, bird or human faecal matter, (collected pet
droppings or "scooped poop", babies' nappies or diapers etc.), they can
be a breeding ground for harmful microorganisms, such as E.coli,
salmonella etc. Food waste is simply loved by some insects, such as
flies and cockroaches and birds that feed on them (and the food waste).
Going up the scale, mammalian vermin, such as mice and rats abound in
them and are excellent disease vectors. Many landfills are sited to fill
in valleys, with or without a stream running through. Occasionally,
pipes were laid to carry the stream or drainage water to the bottom edge
of the filled area. More often, the water simply infiltrates through the
rubbish. On top of that, rain water passes through the rubbish and
leaches out everything that can dissolve in it, including toxic
chemicals. This creates harmful runoff which will often destroy
downstream life. If it soaked into the ground, it could infiltrate into
ground water, which could be a downstream source of drinking water.
Modern landfills
Many countries have legislation to limit the nuisances caused by
landfills. Obviously, some of them are inevitable, depending on the
nature of the waste. Probably the most important item is a clay or
concrete basin, with tough plastic liners. This would capture the
leachate and prevent it polluting ground or surface water. In some
cases, the leachate is totally treated through a suitable water
treatment plant and discharged appropriately. This is difficult because,
almost by definition, the potential pollutants cover a wide range of
contaminants that the water may pick up through the rubbish. Some sites,
especially in dry climates, simply pump the leachates back in again at
the top with little or no treatment. As the quantity of waste
accumulates, parts of the landfill can be closed with a plastic cover.
This reduces the noxious emanations and allows the gas to be collected
and the methane separated as a fuel. When it is full, the landfill is
capped with an impermeable clay or concrete layer. The leachate is still
circulated and the gas collected. A metre or two of compacted soil and
then topsoil can then render the land fit for exploitation after a few
years.
Hazardous materials landfills must be separate from those treating
ordinary rubbish. The treatment of industrial chemicals involves
considerable knowledge and experience. As far as possible, incoming
materials are sorted into those that can be added to, for example, a
cement works fuel for incineration, usually most organic liquids; other
liquids, mostly aqueous, need to be treated to remove heavy metals and
then neutralised and analysed by batch before going through a full scale
waste water treatment plant. Only harmless solids should be landfilled,
such as crushed empty containers that are too contaminated for recycling
and are unsuitable for incineration.
EU legislation
As in many things, the European Union has a Directive on landfills. I
have included a summary of its major
provisions on this site.
References
↑ A. H. Marsh & A. Garnham,
Investigation, hazard assessment and remediation of existing landfills[1]
↑ Greening your final arrangements[2]
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