so how does a modern landfill work
imagine a giant plastic bathtub in the ground
trash is added to the open top uncovered each day with daily cover such as
contaminated soil ur ground-up construction debris
as time goes by or in more trash is piling on and more highly toxic methane
gas builds up as the trash decomposes
this is when you start to get that trash smell you know the one
any water that's in the trash or any rain or snow that seeps through the
cover starts to trickle down through the garbage
when water and waste ur mixed it creates a toxic poisonous soup called leachate
leach it contains all the dangerous stuff that's in a lot of what people
the tens of thousands of chemicals heavy metals and other toxic materials filed
an electronics batteries prescription drugs and plastics just to name a few
now the leachate containing these poisons percolate through the trash and
eventually pools at the bottom
one set of pipes collects the liquid and takes it to the collection tech
and another set of pipes collects and diverts the toxic gases
on the some of the gaskets captured over the life of the landfill
the rest of skates into the air
rancid odor an airborne toxins that've been shown to travel over three miles
history is proven that many parts of the landfill system will eventually fail
the collection types period under the garbage will become clogged and
liners will be punctured by sharp objects
and the chemicals and lead shaped will burn holes in the plastic
even the e_p_a_ and cassell is on experts admit all liners leak
you cannot repair a liner once it begins to leak
and eventually the barrier between the waste in groundwater completely fails
how when where the leachate will reach the groundwater it's impossible to
hundreds of homes using private wells surround the south bridge landfill
the next time you take a sip of cool water from the faucet
or take that long run and what you hope is healthy fresh air
dirty diapers broken office furniture bathroom cleaners alsop harmless enough