Tennessee Landfills

Why do we have landfills?

Landfills are places where garbage is dumped and then buried. They are sometimes used to store the solid waste that comes from industrial processes. In wealthy countries, solid trash is often separated at the source and taken to a recycling centre. When something gets to be “e-waste,” it is taken apart and sold to someone who buys scrap metal. The rest of them are taken to dumps where they are buried under tonnes of trash and dirt. The main reason for this is that most people don’t understand how important recycling is.

Different kinds of landfill

Municipal Waste Landfills

You can put trash in places that keep it out of the environment until it is safe to do so. When it no longer has any physical, chemical, or biological properties, it is safe. Sanitary landfills use technology to keep harmful substances from leaking out and to keep trash from spreading. The two main ways that sanitary landfills are run are the trench method and the area method.

Landfills for municipal solid waste (Msw)

The city and state have rules about this kind of dump, which takes in trash from homes. The Environmental Protection Agency has set minimum standards that these dumps must meet (EPA). Some things might not be allowed in dumps for trash from cities and towns. Paints, cleaners, chemicals, motor oil, batteries, and pesticides are just some of the MSW that are often banned. But you can turn some things around the house into MSW and then throw them away.

Landfills for building waste and waste from remodelling

The trash from building, remodelling, tearing down, and building bridges goes into these landfills. Different types of waste include concrete, wood, asphalt, gypsum (the main ingredient in drywall), metals, bricks, glass, plastics, trees, stumps, dirt, rock, and building materials (doors, windows, plumbing fixtures).

Landfills for industrial waste

Industrial waste that is not dangerous comes from making things and other industrial activities.

Specific landfills

Carter Valley Sanitary Landfill

In terms of revenue, Republic Services, Inc. is the second largest provider of nonhazardous solid waste collection, transfer, disposal, recycling, and energy services in the United States. The company is involved in recycling, lowering carbon emissions by replacing diesel trucks with compressed natural gas trucks, composting, and other community projects related to environmental conservation, sustainability, and education. Carter Valley Municipal Landfill Acceptable waste types include animal waste, non-flammable asbestos, construction and demolition waste, contaminated soil, asphalt, concrete, municipal solid waste, and yard waste.

EcoSafe Landfill

Eco-Safe Landfill is a licensed municipal solid waste landfill that began operations in 2012. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has granted permission for the facility. The facility currently accepts Municipal Solid Waste, Construction and Demolition Debris, Municipal and Industrial Sewage Sludge, Contaminated Soils, and Asbestos, and is capable of accepting waste from all over Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. Municipal Solid Waste is an Eco-Safe Landfill Acceptable Waste.

Problem and solutions of landfill

First, there are too many toxins.

Many of the things that end up in landfills contain chemicals that get into the groundwater and soil when they are let out. The environment could be hurt by these pollutants for a long time and in big ways. Think about how people throw away things like laptops, batteries, and TVs that end up in landfills. Some of these things include arsenic, acids, lead, and other things that could hurt people’s health if they got into the environment.

Mercury is another dangerous thing that you can often find in landfills. It comes from fluorescent light bulbs and is very bad for your health. Even a little bit of mercury vapour in the air can hurt the lungs and kidneys.

Treatment of toxin 

So that mercury doesn’t get into the soil and groundwater, new landfills are being made with synthetic membranes. Instead, the poisons are sent through a network of pipes into a sewer system, where they can be stored, burned, or turned into fertiliser.

The second problem is leachate.

Toxins get into the water when trash in a landfill breaks down and water flows through it. This makes leachate, which is a liquid. Rain that falls on top of the landfill is the main source of leachate. Leachate can also be made in other ways when groundwater seeps into trash. Leachate is a poisonous “cocktail” that is made when water seeps into a landfill and mixes with decomposing trash. This causes chemical reactions that make leachate. Leachate often contains the following chemicals:

  • Living things have acids. Methane and carbon dioxide
  • Alcohols \sAldehydes
  • Option #2 is to treat leachate.

Leachate from a landfill can be treated in different ways. The following are:

  • Most of the time, the first step in treating leachate from landfills is biological treatment. To get nitrogen and other biological parts out of wastewater, you need to use a lot of different filters.
  • Wet oxidation processes can be used to break down organic substances that can be oxidised. This includes, among other things, the process of activated carbon adsorption and the steps of precipitation, flocculation, and ion exchange.
  • The third problem is greenhouse gases.

When organic waste, like food scraps and yard waste, is put in a landfill, it is usually packed down. The problem is that this takes away oxygen, which causes the substance to break down without oxygen. Methane, a greenhouse gas that is 20 times worse for our ecosystem than carbon dioxide, will eventually be made as a result of the process. Methane can also catch fire and, in large amounts, can be very dangerous.

Taking care of greenhouse gases

The membrane that is used to line new landfills is made to keep liquid methane from escaping into the air. Even so, it is still not possible to catch it all. Several types of treatment can help cut down on methane production, such as: Aerobic digestion breaks down organic matter without releasing methane when it’s done under an open window or in a tunnel. “In-vessel composting” is a type of composting that takes place in a sealed container. It is an aerobic process that speeds up the way microorganisms break down waste. There are more small-space processes that use anaerobic digestion. This means that the methane can be caught and turned into energy.

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