Essay On Landfills

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Priya Bajwa
Mrs. Skelton
English 4*
March 15, 2014
Hazardous Landfills: A Growing Problem
A landfill is a facility of disposal, storage, and treatment for waste products. Landfills can often excrete hazardous toxins, which may put the surrounding environment and people’s health in danger. These waste sites are positioned all across the United States and the world. The dreadful health and environmental effects of hazardous landfills can be deflated by the reduction of exposure to the population and by the selection of appropriate locations.
The environment can be threatened by nearby hazardous landfills. Even though these landfills are supposedly going through several inspections, many times they are not completely up to safety requirements: “…82% of surveyed landfill cells had leaks while 41% had a leak area of more than 1 square foot” (Connett). These surveyed landfills cells are most likely leaking many toxic substances, such as leachate and greenhouse gases. These toxins often leak into our groundwater and soil becoming environmental hazards and contributing to pollution; in fact, pollution is generated by over ten toxic gases that are released from hazardous landfills. Leachate, one of the toxins, is formed when broken down waste is filtered by water. It is a highly toxic liquid and pollutes waterways, land, and groundwater (Environment Victoria). Greenhouse gases, another type of toxin, are formed when organic material is compacted and covered, which abolishes the oxygen and causes it to decompose in an anaerobic process. The anaerobic process releases a greenhouse gas called methane, which is twenty-one times more potent than carbon dioxide. It is a highly flammable gas and was detected in 83% of surveyed landfills (En...

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...der for this to happen, regulation rules and enforcement need to be more rigid and scrupulous. The first step would be to continuously monitor the chemical levels in the surrounding groundwater and soil to ensure they are absolutely below hazardous. To reduce leakage, liners (layered clay and plastic sheets) should be utilized. Next, the policies need to be tighter to certify that there is no landfill with leaking toxins and that there is “corrective action for any potential leakages from waste sites” (Propex).
Hazardous landfills are a developing problem, and they will continue to expand if rigorous action is not taken. Thousands of people are affected by the hazards of many landfills all across the United States. By reducing exposure to the population and selecting pertinent locations, the distressing effects of hazardous landfills can be enormously compressed.

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