“Volumetric information directly affects
people’s livelihoods,” Peotter said.
The typical person isn’t likely spending a lot
of time thinking about how much garbage he
or she is producing – or where it ends up. A
landfill may indeed be the perfect example
of an out-of-sight, out-of-mind phenomenon.
On the other hand, maintaining a well-
functioning landfill site, one that maximizes
the usability of a limited space designated
for garbage while still providing an
environmentally responsible waste disposal
facility, is definitely on the minds of landfill
operators. And that not only benefits waste
collection companies but everyone else as
well.
Above: Digital orthoimagery overlaid with contour lines
and planimetric (i.e., ground feature) mapping provides a
3-dimensional representation of a landfill facility.
Landfills and the Long Haul
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 89% of the municipal solid waste (i.e., trash
or garbage) generated in 1980 ended up in a landfill.
By 2012 that percentage dropped to just under 54%.
The last decade in particular has seen a dramatic
rise in resource recovery options such as recycling
and composting. Other options include incineration
and waste-to-energy techniques such as anaerobic
digestion, an oxygen-limiting decomposition process
that produces methane.
All that said, the active use of landfills as a part of an
overall waste collection strategy won’t disappear.
“Even in the most ideal of scenarios, there will
always be a residual effect from any waste collection
alternative, and there will always be material that
simply cannot be reused or recycled,” Ayres Associates
civil engineer and solid waste specialist Erik Lietz said.
“That’s why landfills aren’t going away anytime soon.”
TRENDS
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