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By Crystal a. Mierow Six Nations Mohawk
We all have a responsibility to Mother Earth to do what we can to limit the amount of garbage we produce. Reach out and educate your families, friends and children in the ways that we can contribute to making our Earth a better place. Our children and future generations depend on our actions to thrive. We all need to do our part to protect humanity, animals, birds, aquatic life, water, air, earth, plants, and mostly our drinking water, because without clean water we truly won’ t exist. When we throw away our garbage does anyone think about where it goes or what happens to it after the garbage truck comes? Most of us don’ t give it a second thought. It is important to realize that our trash fills up a ton of space in many states of our country. All of these things impact our soil where our food is
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grown and where our drinking water can be contaminated. The breakdown of these compounds also impacts the air that we breathe.
The first landfill was built in Fresno, California in 1937 and had three components which included trenching, compacting and covering the soil. Today, it is a National Landmark signifying our country’ s first permitted sanitary facility designed to bury waste. Landfills were created to protect the health of humans and the environment by controlling air emissions and water control. They are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency( EPA).
Our Federal Legislature created the 1st federal regulation for Solid waste in 1965 called the“ Solid Waste Disposal Act”( SWDA). The first national office of solid waste followed in the mid 1970’ s. All states are now required to follow solid waste regulations and enforce their own permits & federal laws as allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency( EPA). Violations can
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impose hefty fines and negatively impact our environmental conditions. Permit programs in each state are required to ensure landfills are in compliance with federal standards. The EPA determines if state permits programs are suitable.
In 1979 the EPA developed criteria for sanitary landfills which restricted certain geographical areas. Some of these restrictions included; flood plains, surface water, protection of groundwater, Vector control( rodents, insects, birds), disease prohibitions to open burning, explosive gas( methane), and fire prevention guidelines to control and cover materials. The EPA set new federal standards in 1991 and updated locations and design requirements for solid waste landfills. They also implemented a way to monitor groundwater requirements to keep our water clean.
Waste Management, Inc. has headquarters in Houston, Texas. They operate 5 of the top 10
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largest landfills in the U. S. and own 3 of them independently. Puente Hills near Whittier, California is the United States largest landfill and permits have been terminated as of 2013 to no longer accept waste. The site has over 700 acres of landfill rising over 500 feet. The last reported estimate for overall waste in the U. S. was in 2013 with over 265 million metric tons. In 2010 Americans recovered about 65 million tons of waste through recycling. In 2009 it was last reported there were over 1,900 landfills in the U. S. which is a decline from 1986 when we had over 7,600 landfills. Most of these have been consolidated into larger facilities. Technology has allowed us to accept 30 % more refuse per acre of space but in the interim each person now creates 30 % more waste to dispose.
The large amount of waste in our landfills has created some environmental issues globally. We are the second largest emitter of fossil fuels burned in the world. All of this contributes to negative environmental changes
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2. Flexible Geomembrane- 2 feet of soil must be compacted with clay to line the bottom and sides of the landfill to protect the soil from Leachates being released into the groundwater. Landfill leachates are organic or inorganic liquid compounds that are created from waste or rainwater that enters the landfills.
3. Leachate collection & removal systems- A composite liner must be put on top of landfills to remove leachates for treatment and disposal. Monitoring leachate levels prevents pollution of ground area surface and ground water contaminants. A Leachate collection system is implemented and is usually a three step process. The process is 99 % effective at removing trace organics and 85 % of heavy metals.
4. Operating Practices-Several inches of soil needs to be compacted and covered frequently to reduce insects and rodents, bird control, decreases odor and controls litter.
5. Groundwater Monitoring Requirements-groundwater wells are tested to determine if any waste has escaped from the landfills contaminating groundwater. Landfills that are less than 20 tons a day are generally not required to monitor groundwater contamination. The three types of monitoring are detection, assessment and corrective measures.
6. Closure and Post Closure Procedures- Long term care and maintenance of closed areas and covering of landfills before closure. The U. S. imposes a 30 year post closure monitoring period for landfills. During this time they are monitored very closely to ensure protection of public health and environmental safety. After they are closed there are three types of categories that they can be labeled for use. Category 1 is for open space, agricultural or passive recreation. Examples would be parks, cemeteries, trails. Category 2 is active recreation, industrial / commercial activities or parking. Paving or light structures are allowed such as baseball fields, golf courses, parking lots. Category 3 is intensive use for residences, industry or commercial development. Examples would be malls, shopping centers, stadiums or universities.
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