Today, amongst growing concern about the environment and about the health implications of synthetic products, many people are trying to ensure they use more natural products. This change in how we think about what we buy has been led in many ways by a growing understanding of how what we eat and wear is produced. Organic food products are considered healthier, as they are not tainted by any chemicals, and are now sold in most supermarkets as well as specialist stores.

It is becoming increasingly important that we reduce wastage as landfill space decreases in the UK, leading to more recyclable packaging and more efficient recycling schemes from councils. A number of celebrities have sought to improve the quality of the food we eat through television shows and raising awareness. The welfare of animals has featured heavily in these campaigns, and as a nation of animal lovers many of us have responded and choose food more carefully.

Most people are aware that a lot of modern clothing is made from synthetic materials, which are efficient in many ways. However, the growing trend in purchasing natural products is another indicator of increasing awareness about the origins of products we use in everyday life. Clothing has been important to mankind for many thousands of years, and until quite recently the majority of garments were made from completely natural products. Wool has been used for warmth in the UK for generations, but has a few disadvantages, not least that wool products can be itchy and spiky feeling against the skin. Some people are also allergic to lanolin, the greasy substance produced by animals such as sheep to waterproof their wool. Whereas sheep produce lanolin, animals such as the South American alpaca do not, meaning their wool is hypoallergenic and that alpaca wool products are suitable for use in baby clothes and for those with sensitive skin.

The wonderful texture and feel of alpaca wool products is becoming better known in the UK, as people searching for natural clothing discover the benefits of the material. The range of alpaca wool products that can be purchased is also on the increase. All parents want the best for their children, and baby clothing made from alpaca wool is an obvious choice. Socks, booties, bonnets, dresses and many other items will help keep baby snug, warm and comfortable. For adults there are a variety of alpaca wool products on the market. As well as the more predictable scarves, hats and gloves, there are ranges of elegant and fashionable cardigans and shrugs. Maybe even more surprisingly, bags made of alpaca wool, which are practical, unusual and pleasing to look at, are available.

If you are looking to find a more natural kind of clothing for yourself, your child or as a gift, but need it to be warm, tasteful and kind to the skin, then alpaca wool products are a great option. It is nice to be able to think of the natural origins of garments, and most retailers will be able to tell you about how the alpacas in question live and how the wool is used and crafted.

And don’t forget that you will be provide the waste disposel at the landfill with a natural material which if sent to a landfill will decompose and note just sit there in the ground for ever!

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We sell a range of alpaca wool products, including the ever popular alpaca scarf. Please visit our website at http://www.samanthaholmes.com

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Now-a-days, people are living contented and satisfied life, thanks to the advanced technology that has made living easy. But these lavishness will never remain forever, these are impermanent. Though the technology is developing for the betterment of the people, but it has considerable side-effects too. There is a significant increase in environmental pollution levels in past two decades.

Air and water pollution has caused serious environmental and health hazards. Air pollution is due to the discharge of harmful and deadly smokes in the atmosphere from rising number of autos and factories, while, water pollution is due to huge amount of industrial wastes being dumped into the sea water.

All this has seriously affected plant life, animal life and of course human life too. Furthermore, the harsh climatic conditions are due to global warming that is caused due to increasing levels of atmospheric pollution. All these factors will turn our green earth to ashes. Its time to think sincerely about its serious affects in future and save our ‘Globe’.

You might have often heard about ‘Recycling’ and might have wondered what it is exactly. Recycling is a way to control environmental pollution and make earth a greener planet. Recycling is an amazing method to make our earth greener by converting the useless and waste material into better and useful things. Here are some advantages of recycling which in turn has a high impact on nature.

- Helps to preserve natural and limited resources: Recycling helps in processing old and unused things, thus saves important raw materials that can be used afterwards in future.

- Helps to save energy: When raw materials are transformed to importantproducts, a lot of energy is needed for its processing. Recycling doesn’t need as much energy as required to convert raw materials to useful things as it only reprocesses the already processed old materials .

- Controlling air and water pollution: Recycling helps in lessening of waste disposal by putting in effective techniques to organize waste products. This shows that the conventional methods of disposing wastes considerably reduce environmental pollution.

- Recycling even helps to manage green house gas discharge. Thus, the harmful and toxic gases are reduced considerably which helps to keep the atmosphere clean.

- Helps to save space: The space used for waste disposal landfill sites are dumped with waste products and these get filled up instantly. With effective recycling technique, a lot of space can be used for more constructive purposes.

- Helps to control global warming: As we realize the fact that huge areas of land is been cleared for industries and housing. Thus, this depletes the oxygen level and increases global warming. But recycling has helped to save the ecology and control global warming to a certain extent.

Thus, it is our duty to increase the awareness and positive impact of recycling which will surely help to save our earth and make earth greener. If every person uses efficient methods to recycle waste it will certainly help to improve our ecology. Live life to the fullest and enjoy the greens throughout your life by recycling.

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Recycling and reuse is hot these days. Manufacturers are not only cost-conscious when meeting the demands of today’s picky consumer; they are also environmentally conscious. Few people are spending money right now and everyone wants to make a dollar stretch as far as they can. Buying something that is attractive, versatile and durable is a top priority for people in today’s rough economy.

An empty plastic water bottle can take 500 years or more to biodegrade in a landfill. Although sunlight could potentially increase the rate that a bottle degrades, most landfills have little or no sunlight and actually preserve trash instead of annihilating it. According to government sources, even a small cigarette butt, which many people believe breaks down almost instantly, can take nearly five years to biodegrade. With all of that in mind, it is easy to imagine that much of today’s trash and waste will still exist in landfills thousands or millions of years from now.

As the world awakens to the long-term damage that humans do to the Earth, manufacturers have changed the way they create products. Wood, which is a renewable material source that also breaks down somewhat quickly in landfills, has become in vogue. With gardening becoming more popular, many consumers have turned to wood garden planters.

A wooden garden planter can help you produce food from your own home, rather than buying it from a grocery store. Many people buy wooden garden planters to grow tomatoes, herbs, lettuce and other food. A wooden garden planter can be used both inside the home and outside in a patio or garden area.

Wooden garden planters come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are long and rectangular in shape, allowing for a row of vegetables to be planted. Others are small enough to fit into a windowsill, allowing cooks to grown their own fresh herbs from the convenience of their own kitchen. As most professional cooks know, there isn’t anything better than fresh herbs straight from the garden.

Wooden garden planters are made from a variety of woods, depending on the manufacturer. Cypress, cedar and balsa wood are commonly use in planters. Bamboo, which can be planted and grown in months or a few short years, is popping up in garden supply centers. Some garden planters are made from pressure treated wood and others are not.

Many garden planters have a distinct style, from colonial to craftsman. Buyers can choose from wooden garden planters painted nearly every color one would want. A wooden garden planter can be purchased to match the home or to provide contrast. A neutral stain, in lieu of paint, will preserve the natural wood look of a planter.

Since a wooden garden planter is durable and made to withstand the effects of water, many gardeners are able to travel more by using planters. An automatic water device can be placed in the wooden garden planter, provide continuous and regulated water for days and sometimes weeks. Wooden garden planters are great for the environment and make a convenient and useful purchase.

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Todd Arend is a freelance writing professional whose expertise covers a variety of areas, including patio and backyard furniture, landscaping and design. He regularly writes about Wooden Garden Planters.

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Every landfill is an engineering project with an engineered leachate management system. Any landfill liner is part of the system. The system should be designed to accommodate a range of seepage rates from very low (the best containment that can be achieved) to high (a controlled form of dilute and attenuate) depending on the degree of environmental protection needed at that site.

Many guidance documents or statutory assessment methods use absolute terms such as “total containment”, “prevention of leachate and landfill gas migration”, or “impermeable”. These terms can lead to the erroneous belief that such concepts are achievable, and that failure to do so is indicative of poor materials or workmanship.
Consideration of material properties demonstrates that, as all materials have a finite permeability, some finite seepage is inevitable.

For example, the frequently quoted requirements for one metre of clay with a maximum permeability of 10-9 m/s and a maximum leachate head of 1 metre implies, using Darcy’s Law, a seepage rate of 1.7 m^/d/ha, and yet it is commonly referred to as the provision of “total containment”.

Actual flow rates are affected by a range of ameliorating and aggregating factors. Calculation of actual seepage rates is complex, and should be carried out using risk assessment methodology carried out to a recognized methodology.

For gases, viscosity and diffusion characteristics must be taken into account. In general, mineral liners on their own are not usually effective barriers against gas migration, though they can be useful components of a multi-barrier system.

Measurements of hydraulic conductivity are of little relevance in respect to gas, as gas is able to pass through a barrier at a rate several orders of magnitude greater than that which may be measured for water.

All materials will allow the passage of liquids to an extent determined by their permeability. Risk assessment methodology will quantify the probability distribution for a derived seepage rate for a given liner/landfill situation.

This should be used either to assess the probable impact on the receiving source, or to determine the performance specification for the liner and landfill operational methods. In this way, an appropriate liner specification can be derived, incorporating a suitable safety margin.

Excessive over-engineering should be avoided, as this can itself may be considered to contravene the principles of sustainable development.

The statement we have made regarding the fact that flow through landfill containment systems will never be absolutely zero and will be a quantifiable small amount, cannot be refuted. It is a rigorously scientific approach to adopt this principle.

However, the concept of the fact that a seepage through a liner is acceptable has been resisted by some, and in particular can appear to be in conflict with the EC Groundwater Directive.

However, in certain circumstances, the discharge into the unsaturated zone of leachates containing List II substances (as defined by the EC Groundwater Directive) is permissible, provided that prior investigation has shown that this will be satisfactory and not significantly impact upon the environment.

Around the globe the primary concern will be to ensure the protection of groundwater, so for example in the EU landfill acceptability is classified by type within zones of travel time to a water source, and within resource protection areas.

Landfills are accepted as suitable for development when subject to adequate risk assessed engineered containment and operational safeguards.

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Author Steve Evans has been writing about landfill daily cover and many other aspects of practical waste and secondary resource management since 2006. As you have been reading this article, there is a fair chance that you may enjoy his blog. We recommend a visit now!

Landfill design has historically been based on a selection of design features from a range of alternative methods and measures to achieve a set of target objectives.

The primary requirement these days is containment. Containment has been set as an objective which can be achieved either by using predefined and accepted prescribed methods, or the designer may seek to achieve same result by one of a range of techniques according to availability of materials, and cost factors.

After a number of research studies were completed in very well controlled circumstances, by contractors observing good practice and closely monitored for their performance, it has been shown that large-scale engineering projects, say using HDPE plastic membranes or natural clay liners, still allow the passage of some flow. They leak!

It now has to be accepted that total perfection is rarely if ever achievable. It would furthermore be dangerous to assume that perfect construction without a single defect causing a small hole anywhere can be routinely achieved.

As a result designers and regulators have understood and come to accept the fact that all liners will allow some leakage. At another ‘materials technology’ level it is also a fact that even very low permeability materials like HDPE plastic membranes will pass a tiny flow through the material both water and gas, even when perfect.

Landfills are large, so a tiny and almost un-measurable flow through a small area becomes measureable when multiplied up by the huge areas of a modern landfill.

A probability distribution can be applied to each of the factors governing the rate of leakage for a given liner design, such that its probable leakage rate and consequent impact can be predicted by modelling.

The acceptability of a landfill design in the environment in which it will be placed should therefore be assessed by a process which quantifies the probable impact, or the probability distribution for an impact, of each source-term (typical concentration of a potentially damaging emission) on each relevant receptor, that is, the persons or features affected by it.

This process is known as risk assessment and should be used in an iterative way to produce an acceptable design.

By being used in an iterative way we simply mean that the designer or impact assessor starts by making a reasonable set of assumptions about a suitable landfill containment system. If at the first risk assessment stage it becomes clear that one or more of the impacts is unacceptable then the designer will repeat the assessment using a varied design having adjusted the design to reduce the excessive impact or impacts identified.

This process is repeated until an acceptable assessment has been achieved.

The process of environmental risk assessment will be governed by background levels set by the local regulatory authority, by statutory limits, and by policy.

These governing factors may, and probably will, change with time. The process by which risk assessment should lead to an acceptable quantified impact, and thereby after any necessary iteration, to an appropriate design, is outlined below.

· Identify all potential impacts.
· For each potential impact identify the source, the receptors or targets, and the pathway.
· Establish the sensitivity of the receptor, and the source term by geotechnical and other investigations.
· Derive a relationship between the landfill and the receptor using an agreed methodology and probability distribution for the source term and each element of the pathway
· Repeat this process to obtain a satisfactory design for the landfill consistent with an acceptable impact.

The process should be repeated iteratively for each potential impact until both an acceptable overall impact and an appropriate design for environmental protection is produced.

The risk assessment process should be applied to any quantifiable impact including, for example, leachate, landfill gas, traffic, noise and even public health risks one of which might be the potentially contaminative effects of seagulls, providing that the effects of mitigation can also be quantified.

Inherent in the use of probability based risk assessment is the possibility that improbable events might occur. In earthquake zones, for example, these will need consideration, while in river valley bottoms flooding might require consideration.

So, consideration should be given to possible responses to extreme events, and whether contingency measures need to be built-in from the start (for example, a leakage detection/interception system) or could be installed subsequently, in sufficient time, should the need arise (for example, a cut-off wall to hold back a leachate flow).

To allow for contingency measures which would be implemented as and when required, can be a practical option offering reduced initial costs, but may require pre-planning and in that there may be costs, such as in the acquisition and reservation of any necessary additional land.

For extensions of existing landfills, the risk assessment approach must take into account the effect of the existing waste and known levels of contamination which may be at present within acceptable limits but could be pushed over the edge by the additional pollutant loading from further landfill extension.

In some instances more stringent controls may be required, whereas in others it may no longer be appropriate to attempt to safeguard a damaged resource.

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Steve Evans has written for the Wasters Blog since 2006. It recently received nearly 50,000 hits in a month, and continues to grow. If you have any interest in free waste downloads shouldn’t you take a look?

Risk Assessment

The overall approach to design, and the design of each element of the landfill appropriate to its environmental setting, is determined through risk assessment. The risk assessment approach is carried out to an agreed standard methodology. If the risk assessment indicates that the chosen site is suitable for the landfill proposed then the design can commence (subject to Health and Safety CDM, and ATEX (UK DSEAR etc Regs, – compliance requirements).

Design is an iterative process which should be reviewed both at its inception and before making any changes.

Any amendments to a design should be considered against all aspects of the design, construction and operational processes according to the, and cross-reference made to all other sections of the design document and other externally produced local guidance documents used as appropriate.

Landfill practice is a dynamic science, evolving continually as waste quality and quantity change, and in tandem with the (in the past) often revised regulatory requirements.

Landfill designers must consider probable changes in landfill practice that may occur over the whole lifetime of the landfill from conception to completion of aftercare and should, where possible, make provision for these changes, or allow for them to be incorporated at a later stage.

Stages in the Design Process

The landfill design process should be the same as that used in other civil engineering projects, where the objectives for proposed use, and therefore for the design of a project, are clearly stated at the outset of the design.

Landfill design should follow a staged approach which should include at least three stages, referred to here as conceptual, outline and detailed design. In each of these stages the holistic principles for the design, construction and operation of the site should be adopted, with an appropriate level of detail for each stage.

In the conceptual stage, the designer will be principally concerned with the overall viability of the site, using experience to determine any fundamental constraints or items of major expenditure. This will result in a notional concept for the development of a site, giving approximate volumes, possible design features, and setting out the principal aspects for clarification or investigation in subsequent phases.

When the design proceeds to the outline stage, a detailed site investigation1 and scoping of environmental issues should be carried out, which will lead to a fully reasoned overall design for the construction, operation and restoration of the site.

This outline design should consider all aspects required for the satisfactory development of the site, including the cost of the development. If formal environmental assessment is required, the level of detail should be suitable for inclusion in an environmental statement.

In addition to satisfying planning requirements, the outline design is likely to form the basis of the Working Plan for the waste management licence.

The outline design should form part of the Site Manual, which provides a mechanism for the exchange of information between the design, construction and operation process. This process of transference of the designer’s intentions and assumptions is essential in the attainment of the integrated approach to landfilling.

When the site progresses to construction, the outline design should be developed into a fully documented detailed design with sufficient detail to permit construction. The detailed design should include comprehensive calculations to confirm or qualify the outline calculations and assumptions in the outline design, but should not require major changes in concept.

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A surprisingly large proportion of UK landfill applications end up going to a planning appeal.

The Appeal process is lengthy and costly, often for both sides. This is a very wasteful way in which to determine proposals to provide what is, after all, an essential service. Secondly, the presumption in favour of developers can be a double-edged sword.

The planning authority is immediately placed on the back foot and is inclined to behave defensively, rather than being in a position to behave positively to achieve objectives defined in a coherent and responsible local plan.

However, where planning authorities decide to take a positive stance, despite the system tending to encourage them otherwise, notions such as “planning gain” begin often then become implicated. But, this is a step away from considering each application solely on its merits and can give rise to inequities and poor decision-making.

One particular victim through all of this is the proper consideration of the need for a particular proposal. This may find little or no place in our present planning system.

It might have been thought that the advent of Environmental Assessments (EA’s) for the more substantial waste disposal developments would have cleared the way for more objective decision-making. A personal perspective is that this does not seem to be the case so far. EA’s certainly provide a much better basis for taking a balanced view of a proposed development. They also provide ammunition for both sides in cases where there is disagreement.

So, a major feature which should help the determination of a particular application is its conformity with local plans. Unfortunately the publication of plans is in some disarray in most authorities.

The problem requires when numerous separate plans are involved, these being Structure Plans and Minerals Plans under planning law, a Waste Disposal Plan, Waste Development Plans etc.

Besides the sheer amount of work involved there are obvious difficulties for an authority in co-ordinating these plans. Another problem is the in the UK the waste regulatory system has been revised and developed so much over the last 10 years, it is understandable that in some areas the plans may not have been yet produced.

For the average landfill planning application co-ordination is also needed between authorities. This arises as the provision of waste management facilities is usually of regional importance, each authority, however, will naturally look after their own interests first. So is it any wonder that in the UK they have not proved adept at working together to consider regional problems.

There are UK exceptions, notably SERPLAN (London and South East Regional Planning Conference), which is facing up to the need to provide for London’s waste, among other issues. There are also instances where, for example, a county authority has declined to consent a clinical waste incinerator except at a capacity limited to the level of arisings within the county. This is despite the fact that there is no technical or environmental basis for the limitation, which in fact has rendered the proposals in some cases financially uneconomic.

During the planning process, planning authorities are required to consult other statutory authorities on an application. Consultations are also required at the licensing (called environmental permitting in the UK) stage.

Due to these potential problems the prospective landfill developer should discuss proposals at an early stage with the relevant planning authority and waste regulation authority.

The relevant matters to be considered in a planning application for a landfill site are likely to include the potential effects on:

• adjacent development and population;
• road and transport networks;
• services (gas, electricity, water);
• local amenity (noise, dust, odour, litter etc);
• ecology and nature conservation interests;
• agricultural land quality;
• restoration to an appropriate afteruse;
• surface and groundwater;
• landscape and visual amenity;
• archaeological interests;
• other designated areas or buildings of importance in the vicinity;
• air quality;
• minerals and other material assets.

This list may not be complete so check with the planning officer at the local authority when you meet him/her.

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When applying for a new landfill or an extension of an existing landfill in most nations there will be a planning permission to obtain before the project can go ahead. This involves submitting a planning application.

Planning applications are handled within the local authorities by officers with no particular reason to specialise in waste disposal. They make recommendations to extremely busy committees of elected members who are required to considering the whole range of planning issues in their locality, from multiplex cinemas to garage extensions and even TV aerials and dormer windows.

There are government provides them with guidelines but planning law often favours the developer in that his application is to be granted unless there is a reason shown why it should not be so. The Councillors will often wish to show at the very least to their local constituents that they have sought to avoid the siting of a landfill near them, and to show the permission as part of a predetermined process.

For this reason local policies come much more to the fore in weeding out undesirable, or probably more correctly in most cases just simply undesired landfill developments.

A planning approval system like this is self-evidently democratic, in that elected members are making the decisions, but there are disadvantages.

Firstly, applications for waste management facilities are rarely popular and the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome means that there are often electoral advantages to elected members in opposing them. This naturally places members in an invidious position. In some counties a history of opposition to waste management facilities has resulted in the bypass of the planning system, with any application automatically being refused or not determined, thus passing the buck to a higher level of government (in the UK it is to the Secretary of State at Appeal).

Many say that landfills are not neded any more as they know that recycling rates etc are being increased, but even if you recycle 30 or 40 percent of your waste that still leaves 60 percent to dispose of in the traditional way. The public need reminding that the new era of resource management will not be an overnight change.

Market manipulation through fiscal measures like landfill tax are achieving results and making recycling more attractive in the long-term. But this can be taken to extremes, as has happened in Germany, and great care needs to be exercised in supporting markets through fiscal instruments.

Of major concern is the danger in that the government while making waste a special case to improve the process which ultimately must provide enough void capacity in landfills to avoid massive pollution from emergency tipping, they do not by so doing cause great public hostility.

The UK government is also introducing all sorts of restrictions on the movement of waste, which make markets almost exclusively national.

To charge for removing domestic waste from householders by weight of rubbish would possibly be very sensible. But, the very high sensitivity of politicians in the UK to the concept of direct and variable charging for domestic waste makes this revenue collection and recycling incentive unlikely.

That is a shame because it is the simplest and easiest driver available and one that will have enormous benefit. Every other utility service is charged directly to the ratepayer and at variable rates from electricity, water and gas. Why not waste?

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Steve Evans has written for the Wastersblog since 2006. It recently received nearly 50,000 hits in a month, and continues to grow. If you have any interest in technology help in waste disposal shouldn’t you take a look?

The overall approach that the promoter and developer of a landfill should take is that of embarking on a construction project, carried out over an extended period, to build a desired landform using waste materials and incorporating appropriate environmental protection measures.

This concept combines the following two elements in ways which are appropriate for a particular site and its waste inputs:
1. Established civil engineering practices for permanent and temporary construction, based on a predetermined design, with appropriate performance standards for the materials used.
2. Process engineering to accommodate biological, chemical and physical changes which will take place within organic wastes during the active life of the site.

The important components to be considered and then built into all landfill designs are:

• Requirements for environmental protection, in order to minimise harm to the environment and to human health, in accordance with current legislation and the aims of sustainable development.
• Recognition of the effects of the different nature of wastes and their degradation processes on landfill gas and leachate generation, and the potential of these to change during the course of design and operation of the site.
• Use of a site-specific risk assessment, rather than prescriptive, approach to environmental protection, for each element and at each stage in the project, in order to determine the overall design and operational practices appropriate to the environmental setting of each individual landfill site.
• A holistic approach to landfill design and operation, utilising scientific and engineering skills as an integrated process from initial conception to final capping, including subsequent restoration and aftercare.
• The adoption of methods, standards and operational systems, based on best current practice, which reflect progress in techniques and improving standards.
• The underpinning of all actions by a quality approach, to ensure that the required quality is achieved in implementation, and that landfill standards match rising public expectations.

The need for cost-effectiveness in design, construction and operation of landfill sites to ensure that the appropriate level of environmental protection is achievable at an appropriate cost, is of course also essential, as is the need to comply with the local regulations imposed in respect of planning and emissions reduction and control/monitoring.

The method of landfilling is very simple. In essence the waste is deposited in layers, called lifts , within the landfill and above the liner system. As waste is deposited, it is compacted by heavy machinery to maximize the amount of refuse that can be disposed of in the landfill. Waste is not a high tech problem it is a low-tech problem.

What will make landfills better is not magic new technology, no new machines either; it is better design, better organization, better education, both at the municipality level and the site level.

Also for a good landfill both the main emissions of landfill gas and leachate should be planned for from the start, and the facilities for both installed ahead of when they are absolutely needed, to be sure they are ready when really necessary.
Leachate can be pumped to the collection pond or flow to it by gravity. A leachate collection tank is designed to catch and isolate the contaminants that can get into the environment. All good landfills attempt contain leachate at the site and prevent its discharge to surface or groundwaters, but it is easy to leave the provision of leachate treatment too late, and the not have a facility ready for when heavy rains arrive.

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Waste should not be treated differently to any other product, and then it would be possible for it to be recycled more easily. Waste once thus classified is too rigidly then held to remain waste, and this reduces its marketability due to the increased regulation which applies to waste when compared to normal industrial and manufacturing processes.

Waste if treated merely as a secondary resource with certain properties like should be able to move freely across borders and within regions. Why should, for example, a plastic cup made in one part of the world be able to be freely exported to another country, like the UK, but once recycled for material use become a restricted commodity?

“It does not make sense”.

Likewise with the issue of incineration; a furnace for a factory can be sited close to a conurbation and is welcomed and seen as creating jobs. Yet the same furnace burning waste is treated as a demon even though now that the EU Waste Incineration Directive has been implemented it will always have lower emissions than all of them.

Those working in the waste management industry must work to de-demonise the waste industry. If we lose this argument we are storing major problems for the future of the industry.

Nevertheless, for the foreseeable future there will still be waste which has to be disposed to landfill, so let us put our minds to that and the landfill specification needed..

A continuing trend in recent years has been to increase waste density through waste compaction. MBT waste itself tends to be dense and compactable. While this reduces settlement for the current generation the ultimate amount of settlement will depend upon the degree to which all organic material decompose to carbon dioxide or methane or other gaseous forms.

Increasing density will ultimately extend the period before a landfill reaches final storage quality when no more reactions are taking place and all soluble materials have been leachate out by into leachate by solution. Excessive waste compaction slows gas production and overall biological activity because as increases the density occurs, permeability reduces decreasing the rate at which water can infiltrate the waste.

Methane is produced by all modern landfills. It burns very easily and often is used as natural gas for cooking and heating. It is lighter than air and collects at the top of enclosed spaces. It can be profitably collected from landfills and used as an energy source.

The rate of gas production is higher if heavy rainfall and/or permeable landfill covers introduce additional water into a landfill, but EU policy and regulation is against such action.

Groundwater moves slowly and continuously through the open spaces in soil and rock below a landfill. If a landfill contaminates groundwater, a plume of contamination will occur.

Leachate, groundwater and landfill gas from landfill site are routinely monitored and where necessary treated, before being discharged to a nearby Publicly Owned Treatment Works.

Dumping rubbish in an uncontrolled manner occurs still in many developing nations. Such dumps provide a tempting livelihood for the very poor in many third world nations. If these sites are cleaned up in a socially sensitive manner there is scope for assisting the original tip scavengers to continue in a much more organised and efficient manner. There are some cleaned up dumps which now provide extremely profitable business for the ex-scavengers now turned business people.

Leachate migration control standards must be followed in the design, construction, and operation of landfills during the use of the facility and during the post-closure period.

Leachate is produced by a combination of liquids from waste material, rainwater and other liquids that are produced during the decomposition of waste. Leachate will initially contain contaminates that could pollute water supplies if allowed to enter the groundwater which is known as an aquifer where it is extensive enough to provide a water supply

Leachate is water that filters through the landfill, picking up impurities as it travels. If the impure water soaks down into an aquifer and reaches a well it will contaminate the drinking water.

Residents in some US states within one-half mile of the landfill may be able to have their wells tested every year. The Health Department contacts the owners or residents in the area of eligible properties before sampling each fall and spring. This is important as part of the landfill specification to protect the health of those using the well water.

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Steve Evans has some great information and ideas on the environment and waste. Go visit his web sites for more articles like this one. For waste and recycling go to the Waste Blog. Also recommended is the environmental waste solution blog.