Landfills in the United States
Municipal solid waste (MSW) – more commonly known as trash or garbage – consists of everyday items people use and then throw away, such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps and papers.
[1] Some materials may be banned from disposal in municipal solid waste landfills including common household items such as paints, cleaners/chemicals, motor oil, batteries, pesticides, and electronics.
In 1976, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)[1] that dramatically expanded the federal government's role in managing waste disposal.
[6] If state agencies are not aggressive, violations can worsen, multiplying negative environmental impacts exponentially.
[7] Modern landfills are specifically designed to protect human health and the environment by controlling water and air emissions.
[10] The division regularly monitors, reviews and comments on current legislative and regulatory actions that could potentially affect landfill operations and new technology.
[10] Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, manages/operates five of the top 10 largest landfills and owns three of those outright.
[11] An important part of maintaining a landfill is managing the leachate through proper treatment methods designed to prevent pollution into surrounding ground and surface waters.
Most leachate collection systems have the following components:[13] Federal requirements mandate that treatment must meet drinking water quality standards, which are set to prevent harm to public health, or more stringent state standards to protect sensitive environments (high quality streams, trout streams).
[5] Nearly all municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLFs) are required to monitor the underlying groundwater for contamination during their active life and post-closure care period.
[14] The exceptions to this requirement are small landfills that receive less than 20 tons of solid waste per day, and facilities that can demonstrate that there is no potential for the migration of hazardous constituents from the unit into the groundwater.
[14] There are three phases of groundwater monitoring requirements:[14] A United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report indicates that as of 2016, counts of operational municipal solid waste landfills range between 1,900 and 2,000.
In a nationwide study done by the Environmental Research and Education Foundation in 2013, only 1,540 operational municipal solid waste landfills were counted throughout the United States.
[1] Today, landfills are designed from the start to ensure protection of the environment and public health, and the safe and productive use of the site after closure.
[3] Some examples include: Westview Sanitary Landfill in Georgia - now a cemetery and Griffith Park in California - used for hiking trails.
[3] Some of the most well known are Mile High Stadium in Colorado which is the football stadium for the Denver Broncos; Brickyard Shopping Center in Illinois; and Columbia Point in Massachusetts, home of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and University of Massachusetts Boston's State Archives Building.
[21] Creating habitats using native species can be complicated by many environmental factors, but using experimental plantings can be beneficial to the beginning stages of restoration.
One international study from the Czech Republic found that the number of species recorded in a closed landfill increased to a level rivaling the surrounding environments or greater.
[23] The EPA has collected and reported data on the generation and disposal of waste in the United States for more than 30 years.
