Steps to Create a Sustainable Landfill

When you hear the word “landfill” you probably think of something quite unpleasant. After all, landfills are traditionally a place piled high with rubbish, including items that will never decompose. Massive amounts of decaying materials sit in landfills and they need to be carefully managed to avoid polluting the air and the earth and even water. What if there was a better way?

What Is a Sustainable Landfill?

Around the world, communities are paying more attention to their impact on the environment and this includes their landfills. These rubbish dumps are different from everything else because they are carefully designed to protect the environment. Within the sustainable landfill, steps are taken to keep the impact of all the rubbish away from the world.

Liners: Many landfills now use a speciality liner to contain the rubbish. This prevents anything from leaking into the surrounding soil or getting into the groundwater. The liners are massive, as you can imagine, but they do their job quite well.

Liquid Collection: Rubbish produces large amounts of moisture as it decomposes, so to keep the liquids from contaminating anything, a sustainable landfill will likely have a system in place to collect this moisture and then treat it.

Gas-to-Energy: Landfill rubbish also produces huge amounts of methane gas, which, if collected, can be used to create renewable energy. As the contents of the landfill decompose, the gas is collected and converted, making the landfill self-sustained in many ways.

Ongoing Maintenance: To ensure the rubbish dump is truly ecological, it will require constant monitoring and pest control to ensure nothing is dragged out of the dump by animals. This way, everything is kept within the liner and will not cause issues to the surrounding environment.

Capping: Once a landfill has finally reached its full capacity, instead of simply leaving it, a sustainable company will cover the landfill and add soil and plants.

This converts an otherwise ugly, smelly piece of land into a space that can be enjoyed as a park or similar.

Rubbish doesn’t have to ruin the world. While it is a good idea to take care of what we purchase and use and to recycle wherever possible, how we manage our waste also matters. With a sustainable landfill, it’s possible to dispose of that waste while making a minimal impact on the world we live in.



Are you interested in learning more about sustainable landfills? Contact William Thompson & Son to find out how we make waste management easier and better for everyone.