Humans have been grappling with our garbage for a very long time. Where does everything go when we’re done with it? Food and wrappers, old bicycles and cars, broken tools, trash of all kinds -- anything that we use must go somewhere when it’s out of our sight. In early civilization, trash was produced in sparse or small enough quantities to not cause too much of a problem. Organic and natural materials could degrade fairly easily in sunlight and from exposure to the elements. With the development of cities, more humans meant more waste. Piles of debris and garbage would often gather in the city streets, encouraging disease and pests. Greece was one of the first cities to implement a waste removal system, though, a crude one. Open-air pits were dug further and further away from city walls, where waste and trash would be delivered by hand. Organic waste would be transported to farmers outside the city to be used as fertilizer.
Waste management continued to worsen all the way into the 15th century. The Middle Ages were marred by the bubonic plague, whose rapid spread around the globe was at least partly exacerbated by Europe and Asia’s lack of waste management system to prevent the transmission of disease. The Greek city of Athens banned directly disposing of waste into the streets in 320 BCE. Yet, it wasn’t until the late 18th century that England did the same and established their first organized waste management system. Cities grew even larger as industrialization exploded across the globe. Trash would be gathered from the streets by “scavengers,” or other early forms of sanitary workers, who delivered waste to pits found outside the city, very much like how early Greek and Roman cities handled their leftovers. In the case of Pittsburgh, like other waterfront cities, people tended to merely dump their waste into the nearby Delaware river.
Throughout history, those who could afford to have their waste shipped away from their sight, were typically those with enough power to affect change. This may be why it took so long for a public or general waste management solution to be considered, let alone implemented. Incinerators took the place of many open-air garbage pits, and garbage cans/trucks first appeared in the U.S. in the 19th century. If our trash wasn’t being burned, we dumped it into rivers or the classic pits. In the mid 1900’s, the pollution and detriment to public health due to how we dumped or burned our trash began to have obvious consequences. In the early 20th century sanitary landfills were introduced in the US as an alternative that helped save space and protect the environment from harmful waste with the passing of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Today, compacted layers of garbage are stacked upon an impermeable bottom liner to protect groundwater and underlying soil. More soil is then poured over and compacted upon the layers of waste, preventing odors or debris from escaping with the wind. Once a landfill is “full,” a layer of clay or another impermeable layer like a geomembrane liner is used to cover the garbage. More soil is then poured over the area for the land to be reused.
Four requirements must be met for a landfill to be considered “sanitary.”
- Leachate Control: Leachate refers to all the liquids you can find within a landfill. These can occur from natural biological decay, or from precipitation as it flows through the waste. Leachate can contain all the chemicals, toxins, heavy metals, organic materials, or even viruses that are found within our waste. If rainfall is allowed to freely pass through the waste as leachate, it can then soak into the soil and nearby watershed. This is not only toxic to animals and their ecosystems, but directly poisonous to humans if found within our drinking water. Leachate must be controlled by preventing its production and controlling whatever does form so that it does not enter the environment.
- Formal Engineering Specifications: A sanitary landfill is designed specifically for the environment it is going to be in and should involve a comprehensive report of the nearby geological and hydrogeological conditions. In the end, the waste should be completely sealed in order to protect the nearby environment.
- Comprehensive Control: There should be permanent and knowledgeable oversight for the landfill throughout its construction and operation. Stormwater, leachate, and methane collection and removal systems necessitate constant monitoring.
- Waste Compaction and Coverage: Waste should be compacted and deposited in spread out layers and should be covered with dirt or another form of cover daily.
