Yes folks, while my witty musing of rubbish may match my petite and rambunctious exterior, I am in fact a poker-faced trash junkie and serious garbage blogger.
So let's go deep into the bowels of the waste management beast where few and far between ever manage to lay their innocent trash producing eyes. That mysterious and elusive "away". The magical and astonishingly engineered hole that is a landfill.
Finding a landfill is no easy task. Even Google maps was a little confused as how to get there. Mapquest had a more direct route. I know, hearsay! After taking the highway a bit out of town, we got off at one of those exits that don't have a name, or really even a sign. We followed a road that looked like it lead to no where in particular. It was about half way up the hill that we saw a giant barbwire fence and a sign that you were entering the county landfill and lets just say it wasn't a Vegas style "Welcome" sign.
Once we're up to the top of the windy road we were suddenly surrounded by trucks waiting in line to get weighed. At this point I'm a little bummed. It just looked like the entrance to a national park. A little booth, trees, birds, a food truck....it didn't even smell!
After explaining to multiple people who we were and why we were there, to check out the waste audit the City had commissioned to asses our recycling outreach needs and general geeking out, the landfill manager came to get us. Martin, our tour guide & garbage-ian angel. We got in his over sized pickup and began our journey to the "top" of the landfill.
Trucks waiting in line to get weighed. The landfill takes in about 1,200 tons of trash per day. Trucks are weighed and then pay a "dumping fee" based on the weight.
After explaining to multiple people who we were and why we were there, to check out the waste audit the City had commissioned to asses our recycling outreach needs and general geeking out, the landfill manager came to get us. Martin, our tour guide & garbage-ian angel. We got in his over sized pickup and began our journey to the "top" of the landfill.
Waiting for our ride
On our way to the top! Little did we realize we were already standing on several hundred feet of compacted garbage.
Driving on several hundred feet of compacted trash and dirt.
Well, trashers and trashies alike..this is what an actual landfill looks like:
Yea..I know! a little disappointing.
It was the end of the day, so they were covering up the landfill with "alternative daily cover" Which is waste management speak for, mulch, essentially.
All of the yard trimmings brought to the landfill are ground up and cover each and every speck of trash, every day. This prevents birds and animals from digging around, mitigates smell and helps stabilize each layer. -hashtag- engineering
Even though it was February the whole landfill smell like Christmas trees!
Fun Fact: in the City I work for, residents can't put palm fronds in with their yard trimmings because this very grinder can't handle the strong, fibrous frond.
Fun Fact: in the City I work for, residents can't put palm fronds in with their yard trimmings because this very grinder can't handle the strong, fibrous frond.
After our tour of the open section, Martin (who has been working at landfills for 30 years, at this particular one for 18), showed us the methane collection and erosion control for the landfill.
Each pipe designates the top of a layer. Each layer is about 250 feet tall.
They use "telescoping pipes" so that the pipes can expand and contract with the the temperature. This prevents explosions.
We are sitting on "lift" (layer) 6 or 7. The top is lift 9.
This landfill has been open for a little over 50 years. It's one of 5 major landfills in the greater Los Angeles area.
Because this landfill is so old, it isn't lined. Which means there is no protective barrier under the landfill to protect water from leachate. They do collect the methane and pipe it to the City power plant - so they do their best for the environment considering there's no way to create a barrier under the hundreds and hundreds of feet of trash already piled. However, ground water is closely monitored and tested to try their best at mitigating the pollution and chemicals leaking from the landfill.
Landfills are incredibly engineered and complex (especially new ones). My expertise at the moment is limited to this graphic I have never claimed to be an engineer!
Landfills are a necessary evil. They are sensational and most definitely not going anywhere. We will always need landfills to make our unwanted, refugee refuse a place to call home. They make it possible for capitalism to rear its indulgence-loving head. Throwing stuff out makes it possible for us to buy new, bigger, shinier, very well packaged goods of all kinds.
The landfill I saw accepts municipal solid waste (think waste you and your favorite restaurant produce) and construction & demolition debris (think asphalt, lumber and dirt). Yet there are all kinds of landfills. They would never let a civilian walk onto a hazardous waste landfill not like I would want to...which is even more engineered and carefully monitored for leaks but they exist all over the country.
Landfills, regardless of the kind have the grave potential to decimate ground water and land stability for surrounding communities, are disproportionately situated near low income neighborhoods and are a for-ev-er said like that kind from Sandlot reminder of our over consumption.
There is a common joke that one day we'll be mining landfills for valuable resources (metal, plastic, paper). Two garbologists from 'The Garbage Project' who have taken core samples of landfills have found perfectly intact newspapers and half eaten hotdogs. ew. They concluded we weren't burying trash, we were mummifying it.
In fact one of the biggest by volume things sent to the landfill is CARDBOARD. Guys. For real. Cardboard. The number one most recyclable-Lorax-relateable-reusable thing that humans make! Minus maybe pizza boxes but they're their own class of confusing. If that's not a case for recycling - I don't know what is.
My lesson learned from my glorious day at the landfill was that we will ALWAYS make waste and will ALWAYS need a place to put it. However, individual impact is making a difference. Martin, the landfill manager, said that over his 30 years in the landfill business he has seen a drastic decrease in the amount of material coming up for them to put "away".
So don't lose hope trashers! Fighting the good fight may not look like a winning battle, but it is adding up!
Till next time...
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