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Have you ever wondered what happens to skip bin waste and where it actually goes? Well, that waste is collected and transported to a sorting site where it is separated carefully and sorted.
All recyclable waste is then taken to a recycling facility, while the rest is disposed of in landfills. This article looks at both the pros and cons of landfills.
What Is A Landfill?
A landfill refers to an area of land where garbage gets dumped. Initially, there were traditional landfills, which were open holes in the ground; however, now there are modern landfills in Australia. The latter are designed and maintained to specific standards and rules and are managed by environmentalists and waste management companies.
Modern landfills are usually dug in three layers. The layer at the bottom is durable and features synthetic material, which is puncture resistant and made of plastic. Most landfills feature a plastic made of high-density propylene around a hundred metres in thickness. Then, there is a pipe from the bottom of the landfill that helps to drain liquids.
The landfill also has an extra pipe on the top around the middle of the garbage. This pipe helps emit air that is then reused more constructively. The main goal of the conservation theme behind the landfills is to generate valuable greenhouse gas emissions from the waste to help in other industrial sectors.
Advantages Of Landfills
Here are some of the significant advantages of landfills.
Great source of energy
When garbage accumulates, several landfill gases are emitted by a pipe into the environment. These gases are mixtures of methane and carbon IV oxide mixed and filtered out to be put to other uses—the matter decomposing beneath plays a vital role in industries.
Landfills contribute to a significant percentage of methane used in the country. The methane generated is collected and used as an excellent clean energy source.
Landfills are safe for the atmosphere
Unlike some years back, when there were debates and concerns over the effects of hazardous waste produced by landfill on the environment and ozone layer, the worries are no longer there.
Laws governing landfills stipulate that only waste that doesn’t emit hazardous gases should be dumped in landfills. Skip bin companies in Australia must follow these rules to ensure that they don’t dump any waste that can adversely affect the environment.
Landfills control water pollution
Landfills play a significant role in preventing water pollution, which, in turn, saves both aquatic and human life. The three garbage layers starting from the bottom is a system that holds the garbage correctly and ensures that it remains at the bottom. Additionally, it ensures that water filtration is done correctly.
The waste disposed of would otherwise contribute greatly to water pollution and pipe breakages if this three-layer format is not applied in landfills. Landfills control water pollution helping save lives.
Landfills are affordable
If plastic bottles and litter are thrown everywhere, a lot of hazardous gas and left-out burned plastic would be released into the environment. This would cause emissions of toxic greenhouse gases to the ozone layer, and filth would be everywhere. Such issues would be pretty expensive to deal with if not for landfills.
Landfills are a cheap waste disposal method; all that is needed is for your waste collecting services to collect and dump the trash in a designated site and fill it up. Consequently, less money is spent conserving the environment and keeping pollution at bay.
Creation of employment opportunities
Landfills help create a lot of employment opportunities for those who do the dumping in those landfills. There are many youths and organisations engaged in the industry. They all work to ensure we have a clean environment and earn income from their work.
Landfills offer a great way to recycle wastes
Landfills help make positive use of waste and recycle the used stuff that was previously left to decompose. Carbon IV oxide and methane are used widely in industries to make soft drinks. The waste would otherwise be scattered everywhere, leading to environmental pollution. Thus, landfills play a great role in bettering our lives.
Cons Of Landfills
After looking at the major benefits of landfills, let’s now look at some of the cons of landfills.
Filled with waste
Every little item of waste from homes and businesses ends up in landfills. The devices and metal are put in landfills. When the waste piles up, the landfills get filled to the extent that some can overfill, especially in crowded areas in Australia. Bacteria from the waste can get into the houses and cause adverse health effects.
Some harmful gases are emitted into the atmosphere
As mentioned in the advantages, there is a pipe that emits valuable gas. However, it is also excellent to note that not all the gases are fully sucked out of the pipe, and a significant amount goes to the air and the ozone, making them very dangerous. The emitted gases form dark clouds, leading to acid rains that adversely affect health and cause corrosion of iron sheets.
Lead to the rise of leachate
Leachate is a potent and toxic liquid byproduct resulting from the physical, biological and chemical transformations of waste and water in municipal waste disposal areas such as landfills, incineration facilities, and transfer facilities. It is very poisonous, and when mixed with other products in the waste disposed of in the garbage, it creates a liquid at the bottom of the landfill.
The metal in the landfill corrodes when the tank collects the leachate, leading to leaks. The liquid could also cause the bottom of the landfill to break. When leaks occur, leachate could get into rivers, homes, or pipes, leading to severe damage and pollution.
Landfills negatively affect human health
Landfills contain waste that could potentially have adverse effects on human health. Some of the toxic waste in landfills includes unused electronic devices that could cause injuries. If not managed effectively, landfills could also be breeding places for germs that cause diseases and other adverse health effects.
Landfills adversely affect wildlife
Animals like mice and rats dig out landfills, fetching food, and get affected by the odour and germs from the landfills. This leads to the death of such animals. Additionally, the vegetation on and around these constructed landfills gets destroyed. The activities in the landfills adversely affect the ecosystem, which would otherwise be fine without the landfills.
Tips For Landfill Management
More effective management is necessary to ensure that landfills are more beneficial in Australia than they are harmful. Here are some tips for better landfill management.
Regulatory compliance
The first major problem that needs addressing is ensuring that the landfills comply with all the waste management regulations. All the environmental factors should be considered.
The management of the landfills should focus more on the site’s leachate storage to ensure no leaks occur in the storage area liners. There is also a need for landfill managers to address the problem of groundwater contamination resulting from the leaks.
Operational efficiency
The other issue that needs to be dealt with is the efficiency of landfill operation. Landfill managers must operate their landfills more efficiently, for instance, by applying technology such as GPS in the management process. Managers should also focus on the amount of accumulated waste in landfills and how the waste is spread above ground.
While at it, they should ensure that the garbage is distributed evenly and thoroughly compacted to save space. Operational efficiency is critical to the longevity of landfills.
Safety in landfills should be addressed
Site safety should also be improved. With more waste being dumped in landfills, it’s critical for personnel to know more about their surroundings. The managers should ensure that their employees are safe by offering safety training and investing in safety gear. Additionally, they should ensure that the waste coming into landfill sites is safe and shouldn’t contain hazardous waste.
Community Outreach
The other most important thing is for the landfill managers to address issues with the local communities in Australia. They should ensure that the local communities are not affected by odour or other harmful substances coming from landfills.
Hire A Skip Bin Company To Dump Your Waste
To ensure that the waste produced in your home or business reaches its destination and is safely disposed of in a designated landfill, you should work with the best skip bin company in your municipality.
These companies have trucks and tools required for safely collecting, transporting, and disposing your waste. They create a schedule to collect the waste from your property, thus eliminating any worries you might have about your waste management.
Supreme Skips
Supreme Skips have the largest range of skip bins available for hire in the Adelaide, SA region.
