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“Even more important is the fact that, once
discarded, glass is inert and poses no environmental threat in a landfill. This is in stark contrast to not only the toxic compounds commonly used in our
waste, but also with regard to the enormous volume of organic material,
most of which is unrecovered paper, along with food scraps and leaves
and grass.
In past postings, I've described the reasons why we are unable to safely manage decomposable matter that rots in the
landfill, generating the bioaccumuative methyl form mercury, a nerve gas, and
the terrible greenhouse gas methane which also transports the carcinogenic
VOCs into the atmosphere. And almost all of these landfill gases are released
uncontrolled into the atmosphere.
The organic material also creates leachate that mobilizes the toxics in the waste to, after the barriers fail,
contaminate drinking water. This is why Europe has already begun the process of
banning organics from landfills.
We urgently need to confront the need to aggressively seek to divert more and more of the organic fraction away
from the landfill.” Thanks for that perspective Peter. A dose of reality goes a long way. The average waste steam in the U.S. is
comprised of about 50% to 60% organic materials (USEPA). These materials can be effectively
diverted from landfill and turned into valuable soil amendments, and in some
cases renewable energy, at costs competitive to existing landfill rates (even
though those rates do not account for all short and long term costs). Collection systems utilizing wet/dry
containers or 3-stream systems (recyclables, organics, and refuse) are a
reality and are being implemented all over the continent (San Francisco, San
Jose, Toronto, etc.) With these
types of collection systems, organics diversion is greatly simplified and cost
effective. IMO, the biggest recycling and environmental “bang
for the buck” that we can achieve in the near term would be to push for
organics diversion from landfill throughout the country. To make this happen, however, we need to
“pry” the waste streams away from those that benefit by hauling waste to their
own landfills (vertical integration) and/or incent those big companies to
participate in organics diversion. This has to occur at the municipal level in the contracting
process and has to be supported at the grass roots level. William L. Fowler CCI US Corporation (408) 298-0332 bill_fowler@cci.sjsbc.org www.canadacomposting.com |