Mini Ep: Why Are Landfills Bad?

Hey, Tiffany. HELLO, CAT. This is a mini episode. So we're going to be quick about things. And I just I was thinking while we were going through season two, which we talked about waste, like, why are we villainizing landfills so much? And I think went into it. So I'm in the recycling episodes about why landfills are bad, but, and oh also in the one about composting, but I just wanted to go through landfills and what they are and why they're bad for the environment and why it's important to keep stuff out of them. So that that makes all of our episodes on recycling and why you should cut down on waste make more sense? Yes, I love it. Excellent. So I only had four sources for this when we're gonna get a mini episode number one was the EPA. Nice. Number two was the University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center on the hidden damage of landfills. Then I found an article from live science on what happens inside a landfill and then hazardous waste experts had a brief primer on hazardous waste. Okay, so I'm just gonna go through there's there's no granola rating on this because, well, maybe I'll do one at the end. Just for funsies granola rating of your granola bills, I gotta tell you, it's gonna be right, yeah. So a landfill is a place where solid waste is solid waste, solid waste is collected and managed from the west. Yes, no. And the east and east from over. Technically, landfills aren't allowed to be built in environmentally sensitive areas, according to the EPA, and they're managed at the state or local level, although there are federal regulations they have to comply with. And again, this is municipal or local or state landfills, managed by the locality. I don't know in your neck of the woods, I know in parts of New Mexico, that people just dump stuff in open fields and things if, yeah, so those are illegal dumping sites. There's a reason why they're illegal dumping sites because they can't be managed. They're not complying with environmental regulations. So if you live in a neighborhood where people are just dumping stuff, like for instance, our neighborhood here, we had a vacant house and people were just dropping stuff in the front yard. That's insane. I know. It's crazy. It's like we have trash collection and it's I know it costs money to take stuff to the dump but like you're already driving it to the house here. I don't know I don't know why you want your neighborhood to be a tree but is your your trash recycling isn't free, are included. Not free, but it's included? It's part of your your monthly bill. Interesting. So maybe people just don't I mean, I I don't really I haven't interviewed the people on why they do that. But it just dumbfounded me that we live in the most, you know, richest nation in the world with so many regulations on stuff and people just dump trash on people's Yeah. So. Okay, so according to the EPA, there are six types of landfills per EPA guidelines. Okay. This is according to hazardous waste experts. They say there's industrial waste for commercial and institutional byproducts. So that's the biggest portion of solid waste, which we know commercial industry puts out more trash than anyone else. Okay, so that's number one. Is it like manufacturing? Yes, commercial and institutional byproducts. So it could be construction. Okay. But also Yeah, manufacturing things. And then there's municipal solid waste including bio reactor, which breaks down organic wastes. That's an interesting concept, then, oh, actually, I was wrong. construction and demolition debris landfills are separate. So they're not so it is manufacturing and industrial byproducts are number one. So then construction and demolition debris includes concrete, wood, metal, glass, building components, etc. Then there's coal combustion, residual landfills, hazardous waste landfills and PCB landfills. So they say, well, the public perception of a landfill might simply be one of an odorous plot of land that accommodates garbage on the outskirts of town. They're actually very complicated scientific operations that are specialized across a number of discrete uses. This is especially true when it comes to hazardous waste disposal. That is really interesting, because I always thought of it as like one heap. Yeah. And again, I think it's because we don't work in industrial wastes, right. We're not, we're marketing writers, you know, so, and we work from home generally. So like the waste we think about is our own individual composting and all the clothes we buy that we throw and things like that. And, again, individual contributors. While we do have an impact, we're not the greatest impact in terms of landfills in the world. So right, and it doesn't make sense because my local landfill or my local waste facility has like different sections that you take household waste, like yes, like wood or construction. Hey, You are particularly keen are your batteries are a separate section? Yeah, there's like household hazardous waste, but then there's like this whole I think it's wood. I'm trying to think like, they will, they will use it to create mulch or something and then if it's like, just like, like, like we had for old flooring, not wood flooring, but just, yeah, linoleum or whatever. So that went in the separate one. Yeah. Okay, so that will go into Yeah, construction. I know, we think most of the access that in like, everyday Joe has to landfills is gonna be your municipal waste, solid waste, right? Yeah. And then you're gonna have Yeah, construction, stuff like that. We're probably hazardous waste also would be transported to another landfill, but you could drop it off at your local landfill would be my right. Okay, so here's how landfills work according to live science. For your household trash that goes to a municipal solid waste landfill run by your city or locality. The ground underneath is lined with clay and then lined again with a skin of flexible plastic about half an inch thick. So they do put a barrier down. And then they lay drains and pipes to collect leach aid. Now if you've listened before, yeah, I talked about garbage like leach eight is the fluid that is the toxic fluid that is created when any source of water or any again, fluid collects and sifts through trash and creates this toxic chemical fluid called lychee. Gross. I think about that every time I throw anything away. Now I know where to get all the liquids out, like squeezed dry. So not to evaporate. Yeah, I definitely care about lychee. Well, they do have drains and pipes to collect leach aid. Because otherwise I think it would probably explode. Because that stuff gets really gross really quick. But then you you know, people bring their trash and the mounds pile up on top of the pipes and aligning. And then the drain lead shake gathers in pools. So when it's drained out from through the pipes, they gather it in pools, and then they treat it as wastewater. Hmm. Which was interesting to me. And then me. And then after a while over the leech ate, I don't know. Yeah, but after the landfill is full, they put soil on top of the mound, oh, excuse me, they put soil on top of the mounds every day. So at the end of the day, they cover it with their Whoa. And then they're meant to store garbage, not break them down. Yeah. So that's something people I mean, we talked about that. They're there. They're really just there to hold the garbage for you. They do decompose things do decompose. But again, like we said, about glass, up to a million years for a piece of glass. So it's just being stored in this landfill. Yeah. And I think if I've heard it, newspapers at the bottom of landfill take like 100 years or so at least. Yeah, paper products for sure. So then, when a landfill is completely full, it gets another layer of clay and rubber or plastic on top. And then more soil and then they can turn it into, you know, a raised for us or sometimes they reclaim the land and you can build housing on it and stuff. Right? When we we as a society dig up old cities, you know, what we find is trash. people bury their trash, people have always buried their trash, it's what you have done. So when people excavate, they find layers of trash and then older housing and then layers of trash and then older housing. So nowadays, we're just more mindful of where we put these landfills at least in the US. Maybe none other places. Yeah. hazardous waste landfills get a double liner, and a double leachate collection and removal system, so twice as much. They also have run on and run off and wind dispersal controls to keep things more under control. And then they have ongoing quality assurance monitoring. This so those are the standards that hazardous waste is held to I didn't get a list of what hazardous waste includes, but I'm pretty sure it's paint oil. Not nuclear waste. Obviously, that's something very separate. But yeah, yeah, the things that you're not allowed to throw in your local landfill. And then the PCBs is polychlorinated biphenyls. Those These are items that have been banned in the US since 1979. Oh, but they still exist in old electrical transformers. So when an electrical transformer is replaced with a new one, they'll take out the one from the 70s or the 60s or the 50s whenever it was placed, and dispose of it in a PCB plant. I didn't read more into why PCBs are bad. But that's not like what's in the refrigerator, right? No, I don't think that refrigerant Yeah. Let me look that up. Hang on a second. Okay, there, according to again, the US EPA, they are are a group of manmade organic chemicals consisting of carbon hydrogen and chlorine atoms. They're used in electrical heat transfer and hydraulic equipment plasticizers and paints, plastics and Rubber Products, pigments, dyes and carbonless copy paper and other industrial applications. Interesting. Okay, so they were manufactured from 1929 until they were banned in 1979. By the Toxic Substances Control Act, however, they still allow some inadvertent generation of PCBs to occur in excluded manufacturing processes. Okay, awesome. This is a long article here but PCBs may be present in products and materials produced before the 1978 ban, including transformers and capacitors, electrical equipment, including voltage regulators switches, reclosers, bushings, and electromagnets. Oil used in motors and hydraulic systems, old electrical devices or appliance so if there's a PCB capacitor, capacitor in it, fluorescent lights, light ballasts, cable insulation, thermal insulation, including fiberglass felt foam and cork adhesives and tapes. oil based painting, caulking, plastics, carbonless, copy paper and floor finish. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, that's a long list doesn't really say oil based paint. Yeah, that would make sense because that's what everyone used to use. Yeah. So it says that they potential health effects of PCB exposure includes cancer, non cancer, immune effects, reproductive, neurological, endocrine, you know, all the fun things that we get also from essential oils. So, right. Just a little bit worse. Yeah, well, yeah, yeah. You need quite a few more essential oils. Yeah. To get to this point. Yeah. I don't think we ever said essential oil cows or cancer either. No, I don't think there's really evidence either way. No. Okay. So why do you want to keep things out of a landfill? So as you pointed out in Episode 21, about compost composting, one of the reasons sending food waste to landfills is bad is because when the organic matter doesn't have access to oxygen, it creates methane gas. Yes, that was the craziest thing that I learned that I don't know how I didn't know that before that like yeah, methane doesn't exist in normal compost. Yeah. Well, methane creation. Yeah. Yeah. Like because of exposure oxygen. So according to the CU Boulder article, I read methane is 85. Or excuse me, 84 times more effective at absorbing the sun's heat and carbon dioxide, which makes it the most potent greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. A lot of times 84 times yeah, we're all like, well, carbon dioxide is bad, but it's really methane. That's like the worst. Live Science says that most modern landfills collect methane and pipes placed above the trash so that the garbage mound doesn't spontaneously combust. Okay. And then they either release it into the air, or sell it to be burned as energy. I was wondering, yes. And I think it's probably easier to release it into the air than to sell it to be burned as energy. Okay, that is really interesting. So basically, they collect it, so it doesn't explode. Yes, but they don't necessarily use it. Right again. Oh, my God, it could just be fascinating. Yeah, right. Now, they also produce carbon dioxide, water vapor and other gases that contribute to smog if they're left uncontrolled. Okay, so and you know, how high tech is your garbage dump going to be? I mean, it depends on where you live, what kind of taxes you pay, things like that. And again, if people are just dumping in an empty field, none of this is happening. Right? Creating landfills usually means destroying natural habitats. Now even though the EPA does regulate where they're allowed to be placed, the average landfill is 600 acres. And that's there are 3000 active landfills in the US so that's 1.8 million acres of wildlife habitat lost Wow. Now the plastic or clay liners even though they're required they also leak which means leach shade, but we liquid yuck that can contaminate water is you know allowed to go around this also leach it is usually ammonia, which turns into nitrate in waterways, which overproduces plants and those waterways which cuts off oxygen to the water, which means animals and other plants can't survive there. Yeah, and fish. Yeah. nitrogen fixation. Is that what that is? Yeah, no, wait. It's just causes Yeah. Plants to thrive that waterway Yeah. Also, like Leach, it tends to contain other chemicals that are toxic to humans and wildlife like mercury. Again, if you throw your that's another thing that needs good. Hazardous Waste is your old your grandma's old thermometer with mercury in it. Metal. People don't know that. Just throw it in the trash and then you get mercury in your lychee lovely though some other statistics. People who live and work around landfills have a 12% increased risk of congenital malformations in their doldrum 12% Oh my god. Large landfills decrease the value of nearby land by almost 13%. Smaller landfills can be 2.5%. But it's still nobody wants to live by landfills. I wonder why. Yeah, there's also odor, smoke, noise bugs and water supply contamination are all problems. And then low income and minority neighborhoods are more likely to be home to landfills and harder hazardous waste sites. Right. So they're bad for people. I mean, I think we all knew that. But just hear those statistics out loud. And it it always just sucks to remember that in America, the only way to be safe is to be rich, you know? Yeah, although I will say, in my area, our landfill. The only one that I know of in our county is in a relatively rich area, although it's a pretty rich County. But it is kind of interesting. You say that, though, because there are all these townhouses popping up all around there. And the schools are like, super good. Yeah. And so we looked into them, but the house prices are much cheaper than anywhere else around in the area. I'm like, I wonder if that's why probably the close the proximity. Oh, crazy. And I wonder about water quality and things like that's what I was thinking to. So, yeah. Okay, so, in conclusion, landfills are still generally better than burning trash in your backyard, or just throwing it wherever you feel like it. So I'm gonna give it a soggy, it's a one out of five granolas. Again, we rate services and products, on a scale of one to five granolas five being the best crunchy break a tooth off our foreign five, and then one is soggy. Because nobody likes soggy granola grows, but it's still better than zero. So they provide a more controlled environment, reduce disease transmission, and help keep our neighborhoods clean. But ideally, you should keep stuff out of landfills, especially food waste, and of course, hazardous materials. Right. So compost, listen to our compost. Yes, please go listen to episode 21, our composting one. Also, our thread up episode about fast fashion. Those are the two main ways that you as an individual contributor can help reduce landfill. And then, you know, we say get politically active, right, hold the companies that you buy from accountable to how much they're throwing away what their processes look like. Which sounds very daunting. But if you break it down in shop small. Yeah. I mean, I think I don't have statistics in front of me, but big, big box stores, giant grocery stores, giant, big, big farms, you know, those are more likely to just throw stuff away when you don't buy it. Like when stuff goes out of season at Walmart. What do they do with it? I don't know. They maybe mark it down or donated somewhere, but I'm pretty sure they throw a lot of it away. Yeah. So they can there's only stupid laws about it. But yeah, commercial industry does most of the dumping. So Right. Yeah, you know, keep your own waste under control, if you can, but definitely look into companies that throws lists away. Yes, depthless packaging lists, you know, yeah, and I want to I think we talked about doing like an even maybe a season or just an episode on like, how, how to hold companies accountable and sort of like the broader look outside of our own homes. I think that's a great idea. Yeah, it sounds really fun. Yeah. And also like, I'm going to be overwhelmed by it. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, we'll have to kind of contain it somehow. But yeah, yeah. Create a landfill for it. And then yeah. Just put some clay around it. Get some pipes really cheap. Yeah. And that's it doesn't mess a mess, man. So doesn't load. Help our energy levels? Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you. This was really I love these, like many deep dives. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll be returning with full episodes on personal product starting October 17. You should be listening to this sometime between October 1 and October 10. Probably. So yes. We'll put this out as a teaser episode for see. Well, it's actually a wrap up for season two, but Season Three comes out October 17. So in the meantime, you can go back download all the old episodes. Like, subscribe. Let us know what you think. Yes. And our first episode of next season is about Halloween costumes. Yeah. Good, excited, spooky season. Yep. Yeah, no, it's really fun. Awesome. Yeah. All right. Thanks, Tiffany. Okay, thank you.