Sustainable Landfill: How Can Landfill Sites be Eco-Friendly?

When you think of landfill, it’s likely that you, like many, think of a site filled with all kinds of rubbish and waste that is slowly decomposing and causing harm to our already suffering planet. Well, what if we told you that modern landfill sites can be made to be more eco-friendly?

That’s right, although you wouldn’t usually pair the words ‘sustainable’ and ‘landfill’ together, where there's a will, there’s a way - and that is the case in modern times. Read on below as we inform you on how landfill sites can be made to be more environmentally friendly.

Reducing Materials

The world of recycling has come incredibly far compared to even as little as ten years ago, with materials that before would have gone to landfill now being able to be recycled instead. Whether it’s glass, tin or plastic, there are now numerous ways in which these can be disposed of sustainably.

One of the ways landfill sites can be more environmentally friendly, then, is by turning away such materials that can instead be disposed of more responsibly. If waste collection and waste management companies ensure that they separate any recyclable materials from the waste they collect, then they can dispose of these accordingly before sending the rest to landfill. Doing this helps to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills overall.

Reusing Energy

Landfill sites are known for producing harmful greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane - the latter of which is much more harmful to the environment than the former, since it traps more heat in the atmosphere per molecule than carbon dioxide.

However, rather than letting this gas be released into the atmosphere, methane produced from landfill sites can instead be collected and used to produce energy. This is done by converting the gas into liquid fuel or electricity through chemical conversion. This energy can then be connected to the national grid and/or used to power local areas.

An example of this being done in practice is the Rautenweg landfill site in Austria (one of the best examples of an eco-friendly landfill site), which is still harvesting methane created by waste that was disposed of before 2009! They turn this into electricity and send it into the city’s grid, which can then power approximately 1,000 houses.

Sustainable Landfill in Scotland

As you can see, there are numerous sustainable practices that can be adopted when it comes to managing landfill sites and waste. Here at William Thompson & Son, we strive to make our waste disposal services as environmentally friendly as possible, which is why we meticulously separate any recyclable materials collected from our waste removal and recycle services to ensure that as little as possible goes to our landfill site based in West Scotland.

We work closely with numerous environmental agencies, including the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (S.E.P.A), to minimise our negative impact on the environment where possible and make sure that we are always conforming to the latest regulations.

For more information on our services and environmental policies, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.