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There are a number of safety hazards that come with building and operating landfills. Here we'll explore a few of those.
The amount of trash produced by Americans has tripled since 1960. And while there are a number of ways to manage waste, 50% of it still ends up buried in landfills. Although the United States accounts for 4% of the world population, they are the third largest producer of trash, only after China and India. Although the current way of managing garbage, burying it in landfills or burning it for energy, currently gets the job done, landfills pose a hazard to the environment and humans in a number of ways.
There are a number of requirements for developers seeking to build private landfills. First, developers are required to undertake critical research to determine the geological formation of the ground and the area upon which a landfill will be built upon. Research needs to determine if the area is not only suitable for a landfill but that the landfill will not be at a greater risk of leaking or impacting the surrounding area.
Secondly, the public needs to be notified, and developers need to hold a public hearing. This ensures the public is aware of the hazards that come with living near a landfill and allows those in nearby vicinities to present their opinions.
In addition, companies developing landfills are required to go through a complicated regulatory process. These regulations restrict landfill development in certain areas including wetlands, flood zones, and unstable soil. This is why the initial research is so crucial! If landfills are being proposed in a certain radius of an airport, they must prove that they have a plan for managing birds in the area.
Once approved for development, landfills must comply with measures to actively prevent trash leakage in the surrounding soils. Each landfill follows federally approved operating practices to prevent trash from escaping the landfill.
Each active landfill cell needs a composite liner (bottom and sides) on top of 2 feet of clay soil, a system to capture leachate, and a gas collection system. In addition to these preventative measures, landfills must be equipped with groundwater testing systems that ensure trash isn’t leaking through the layers of clay, soil, and groundwater.
Despite strong regulations, landfills do leak. To prevent leachate from entering waterways or the surrounding soil, landfills prioritize sites where landfill cells are surrounded by clay. This minimizes the opportunity for leachate to spread to surrounding water and soil if it does leak. If a leak occurs, landfills follow protocol or will call the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for cleanup support.
We don't just talk the talk, at Smart Plastic we prove everything we say with credible third-party testing. Below you will find the corresponding tests that apply to all our claims.
