Indispensable (sometimes intractable) landfill

The combined need to conserve natural resources and meet constraints on land used for waste disposal are making the concept of materials recycling more attractive and imperative. By 1985 an additional 30 million tons of waste each year will have to be dealt with in an environmentally sound way because current resource recovery methods will not keep pace with the solid waste boom of a growing population. New processing methods such as baling, shredding, and incinerating are based on reducing volume to make landfills last longer. Incinerators, whose operating expenses are somewhat offset by lower transportation costs, can reduce volume as much as 90 percent. Entombment of solid wastes in a landfill can result in hazardous leachate production that damages the environment by contaminating ground and surface water with heavy metals. Properly selected landfill sites depend on soil and geologic suitability and require engineering practices to avoid leachate and dangerous gas generation. Wastes which are highly flammable, toxic, infectious, radioactive, etc. pose special problems that are currently resolved by more strenuous but still inadequate methods. A review of various treatment procedures now in use indicates that better technology and more emphasis on reducing health hazards is called for. 11 references.more » (DCK)« less