Southwest Michigan Recycling

There is a lot of waste generated in the USA. In 2018, there were 292 million tons of waste generated. Averagely that is 4.9 Lb. of waste per person. The waste from municipalities is recycled the most. The data says that in 2018, there was a recycling rate of 32%. Some of the waste is reprocessed not other means such as bio-chemical management.The largest categories of waste pertain to paper, food plastics, yard trims, and metals. Food, plastics, and paper make are the main resources for energy production from waste.

There is one detail to clear out. Landfills and dumps sound the same but are not. A landfill is engineered to maximally reduce the effect on the environment of the waste. The advantages of landfills over dumps are that landfills are managed with more care and landfills can even recycle the waste to produce other compounds or to even produce energy. Dumps are almost nonexistent today as they do not manage the waste and just leave things in the open.

There is an interesting type of landfill, inert landfills. This type of landfill receives sand, concrete, and other waste related to construction. This type of waste does not have any biohazards nor decomposes, or it does so very slowly. These types of waste neither produce liquid waste. In this category, we mostly have asphalt, rocks, bricks, yard leaves. In this category, we do not include demolition waste.

A sanitary landfill is different from a dump in the meaning that it goes above and beyond to assure that there is no environmental pollution. A sanitary landfill also reuses gases to generate electricity while eliminating the chance of liquids spillage onto fresh groundwater. The landfill is also covered, so the wind won’t fly away debris or any piece of garbage. A dump is just an open space to dump the garbage. No controlled activity, no monitoring, no expert supervision, and no environmental protection. The waste decomposes in the open air and pollutes the soil and groundwater water.

Chemical landfills are a variation of sanitary landfills. Chemical landfills are made to secure and hazardous waste. This type of landfill is made on top of a nonporous bedrock. The idea is to create a place that is specialized to reduce the likelihood of hazardous waste reaching the environment. This type of landfill has a pit with a heavily protected bottom that does not allow hazardous materials to reach the soil. These landfills are operated by specialized personnel, and they have strong monitoring systems. To deposit materials in a chemical landfill, it is mandatory to research the local applicable laws and any federal laws that pertain to the type of waste that you intend to dispose of.