Landfill

The four disposal options generally cited for intentional waste products are recycle, landfill, wastewater treatment facilities and composting. Unintentional solid waste is generally referred to as Titter . 

For recycling uses, degradable polyesters are desirable for relatively small mass applications, such as glues, thin coatings or labels, in order to facilitate the rapid cleaning of the primary structure for recycling. These applications may be rigid structures such as plastic containers or modifiers for paper products. 

Anaerobic microbes in the presence of water in the landfill will consume these natural products and produce methane, CO2 and humus. One study reported the average composition of 20 year old refuse to be 33 % paper, 22% ash and 12% wood [18]. Thirty core samples revealed a wide range of degradation and microbial activity that were directly attributed to sample moisture content. Recovered polyethylene degradation was evaluated and determined to be as high as 54 %. 

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Heavy metals often can be removed effectively by chemical precipitation in the form of carbonates, hydroxides, or sulfides. Sodium carbonate, sodium bisulfite, sodium hydroxide, and calcium oxide are all used as precipitation agents. The solids precipitate as a floe containing a large amount of water in the structure. The precipitated solids need to be separated by thickening or filtration and recycled if possible. If recycling is not possible, then the solids are usually disposed of to a landfill. 

Systematic-judgmental sampling scheme for monitoring the leaching of pollutants from a landfill. Sites where samples are collected are represented by the solid dots. 

In the past, removing metal and metalloid contaminants from soil has been impossible, and site clean-up has meant excavation and disposal in a secure landfill. An exciting new approach to this problem is phytoextraction, where plants are used to extract contaminants from the soil and harvested. Immobilization and Toxicity-Minimization. 

Of the 200 million tons of municipal solid waste collected in the United States in 1993 (1), 22% was recycled while 62% was placed in landfills and 16% incinerated (2). Plastics comprised 9.3% of these materials. The number of U.S. residential collection programs increased from 1,000 in 1988 to more than 7,000 involving more than 100 million people in 1993 (2). Approximate 1994 U.S. recycling rates are given in Table 1. 

In 1993, over 41 million pounds of polystyrene was recycled into new plastics products in the U.S. (77). Eor commingled plastics, gasification comes closest to competing with low cost landfilling (57). 

Exposure limits for siHcon carbide and powders of zirconium compounds (including zirconium dioxide) have been estabHshed by ACGIH. TLV—TWA s are 10 mg/m and 5 mg/m, respectively. OSHA guidelines for zirconium compounds call for a PEL of 5 mg/m. There are no exposure limits for siHcon nitride powder, but pmdent practice suggests a TLV—TWA of 0.1 mg/m. The soHd ceramics present no apparent health hazard. In machining such ceramics, however, care should be taken to prevent inhalation of respirable particles in amounts in excess of estabHshed limits. Disposal should be in approved landfills the materials are inert and should pose no danger to the environment. 

The principal disadvantage of absorption bleaching is the problem of disposal of spent bleaching clay. Oil absorbed on the clay is exposed to air and is generally too oxidized to recover. Furthermore, spontaneous combustion of the oil-laden clay is a possibiUty in a landfill. Incineration of the spent clay along with sohd municipal waste to recover otherwise wasted energy is an attractive possibiUty. 

Disposal of spent hydrogenation catalyst requires a special chemical waste landfill because of its nickel content and the fact that oil-soaked catalysts tend to be pyrophoric. Compared to disposal costs, reprocessing to recover the nickel may become economically viable. 

In the sheeting market, the low density polyethylenes are less important than the high density resins. The high density resins have excellent chemical resistance, stress-crack resistance, durabiUty, and low temperature properties which make them ideal for pond liners, waste treatment faciUties, and landfills. In thicker section, HMW-HDPE sheet makes good containers, trays, tmck-bed liners, disposable items, and concrete molds. The good durabiUty, abrasion resistance, and light weight are critical elements for its selection. 

Electric power derived from present (ca 1992) technology via the combustion of wood and wood wastes, MSW, agricultural wastes, landfill and digester gas, and advanced digestion and turbine technology. 

The need to meet environmental regulations can affect processing costs. Undesirable air emissions may have to be eliminated and Hquid effluents and soHd residues treated and disposed of by incineration or/and landfilling. It is possible for biomass conversion processes that utilize waste feedstocks to combine waste disposal and treatment with energy and/or biofuel production so that credits can be taken for negative feedstock costs and tipping or receiving fees. 

Municipal Solid Waste. In the eady 1990s, the need to dispose of municipal soHd waste (MSW) ia U.S. cities has created a biofuels industry because there is Htde or no other recourse (107). Landfills and garbage dumps are being phased out ia many communities. Combustion of MSW, ie, mass-bum systems, and RDF, ie, refuse-derived fuel, has become an estabhshed waste disposal—energy recovery industry. 

The initial biogas recovered is an MHV gas and is often upgraded to high heat value (HHV) gas when used for blending with natural gas suppHes. The aimual production of HHV gas ia 1987, produced by 11 HHV gasification facihties, was 116 x 10 m of pipehne-quaUty gas, ie, 0.004 EJ (121). This is an iacrease from the 1980 production of 11.3 X 10 m . Another 38 landfill gas recovery plants produced an estimated 218 x 10 m of MHV gas, ie, 0.005 EJ. Additions to production can be expected because of landfill recovery sites that have been identified as suitable for methane recovery. In 1988, there were 51 sites ia preliminary evaluation and 42 sites were proposed as potential sites (121). 

Some of the other research studies have addressed topics such as high soHds biomass digestion (154), utilization of superthermophilic organisms (155), advanced reactor designs (156), landfill gas enhancement (157), and microbiology of the mixed cultures involved in methane fermentation (158). 

Separation. In this function, the geotextile serves to separate two dissimilar materials (Fig. 3), eg, two different soils, landfill material and the native soil, stone material and subgrade sod, old and new pavement, foundation sods and various types of wads, or one of many other similar situations. In some instances, it is difficult to distinguish between the separation and stabilization functions because in both situations the geotextde is serving as a separator. However, in stabilization some additional phenomena occur. 

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