One way to get rid of trash is to put it in a landfill. Used plastic, paper, glass, aluminium, and rubber can all be thrown away in a landfill. One of the most common ways to get rid of trash is to put it in a landfill.  In this method, trash is put in a hole lined with plastic and covered with soil every day. Landfills should be used for trash that can’t be recycled, like paper, plastic, glass, and packaging that can’t be reused. Landfills are less expensive. But it’s a long-term way to get rid of trash.

How They Function

The advanced landfill is much cleaner and cares more about keeping the environment safe from the harmful things that can be found there. Landfills start out as holes dug into the ground. The bottom is then lined with dense clay and high-density plastic sheets to keep leachate, a liquid from a landfill that contains contaminants like volatile compounds, chloride, nitrogen, solvents, phenols, and heavy metals, from seeping into the soil below. Instead, pipes are put in place to gather the leachate and take it to a place where it can be cleaned. 

Also, modern landfills often have gas extraction wells to collect the methane that is made when organic matter breaks down. Most of the time, this methane is cleaned up and then used to make electricity. Every day, compacted trash is brought to the site and put in a cell, which is a space of different sizes covered with tarps and soil. When a cell is full, it is shut and a new one is started. When all the cells in the landfill are full, the top is covered with clay and plastic liners and then 2 feet of soil, grass, and plants.

Types of landfills

• There are different kinds of landfills. Sanitary landfills use a clay liner to keep trash away from the environment.
• MSW landfills use a synthetic (plastic) liner to keep the trash from getting into the environment.
• Construction and demolition waste landfills hold the trash that is made when buildings, roads, and bridges are built, renovated, or torn down.
• Nonhazardous solid waste, which is what goes into industrial waste landfills, comes from manufacturing and other industrial activities.

Sanitary Landfills

Places where trash is kept away from the environment until it is safe to do so. It is safe when it has lost all of its biological, chemical, and physical properties. Sanitary landfills use technology to keep the trash in place and stop potentially dangerous substances from leaching out. The trench method and the area method are the two main ways that sanitary landfills get rid of trash.

Municipal Landfills For Solid Waste (MSW)

This kind of landfill is where people throw away their trash, and state and local governments control them. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made sure that these landfills meet certain minimum standards. Some things might not be allowed in landfills for solid waste from cities. Some of the most common things that can’t be put in MSW are paints, cleaners, chemicals, motor oil, batteries, and pesticides. But some household items can be turned into MSW and thrown away.

Construction And Demolition Waste Landfills

These types of landfills are used to store trash from building, remodelling, and tearing down buildings and bridges. Concrete, wood, asphalt, gypsum (which is the main ingredient in drywall), metals, bricks, glass, plastics, trees, stumps, earth, rock, and building parts are all types of debris (doors, windows, plumbing fixtures).

Landfills For Industry Waste

Industrial hazardous waste is a separate type of waste that is made up of nonhazardous waste from manufacturing and other industrial activities.

Specific landfills in North Carolina

Beaufort County Landfill

The Beaufort County Landfill may be found near State Road 1342 and Hawkins Beach Road in Washington, North Carolina, 27889. Construction and demolition debris, auto tyres, and yard rubbish are all accepted.

Alamance County Landfill

The Alamance County Landfill is a place in Graham, North Carolina, where trash and garbage are buried under layers of soil or other materials. Landfills, dump sites, and trash dumps in Graham are governed by both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the North Carolina state environmental departments. North Carolina is also in charge of giving permits to places where trash can be thrown away. Permitting rules decide how the Alamance County Landfill looks, how it works, and what kinds of trash residents can put in it.

Bladen County Landfill

The Bladen County Landfill can be found in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, at 1522 Mercer Mill Road. They take waste such as tyres, ash, non-flammable asbestos, and construction and demolition debris (Auto).

Are Landfills Bad?

Landfills are definitely bad, not just for the surroundings but for our health as well. In a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States, it is said that landfills will eventually leak, and toxic chemicals will end up in our drinking water because of runoff from landfills. The EPA says that landfills are also the third largest source of methane emissions in the United States that are caused by people. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is about 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide. This makes it a major cause of the climate crisis we are facing. 

Also, landfills release gases that could be harmful and have smells that spread through neighbourhoods. They are also connected to birth defects and other very serious health problems. Even after they are closed, the sites aren’t completely safe to use as playgrounds, parking lots, sports fields, construction sites, or for other things because they can cause the cover to crack and then leak.

Conclusion

Individuals need to understand how to dispose of their trash. Individuals should try to recycle more and throw away less trash. Every day, people use a lot of things that don’t get used up and can be reused or recycled. People should all understand how to recycle. It is very important to know how to run a landfill.

Garbage dumps shouldn’t be near houses or schools. should find a way to protect them. People should recycle their trash instead of putting it in dumps. Less damage should come from dumping. The city government needs to take good care of garbage dumps. Less trash should be made, and more should be recycled. People have to realise how important it is to pick up trash.