Landfills in California

A landfill is a place where junk can be dug up and buried (or land dump). It is part of the process of managing solid waste, which makes it the oldest way to treat trash. The two main types of landfills are those for sanitary waste and those for dangerous waste. Sanitary landfills are places where trash that isn’t harmful or dangerous is thrown away. Hazardous trash is thrown away in landfills for hazardous waste.

Landfill Types

Municipal Landfills

There are places where junk can be kept out of the environment until it is safe. It is thought to be safe until it has completely broken down chemically, biologically, and physically. Sanitary landfills use technology to keep the junk inside and stop potentially dangerous compounds from leaching out. The two main ways that sanitary landfills get rid of trash are the trench method and the area method.

Municipal Solid Waste Landfills (Msw)

This kind of dump is for household trash and is regulated by city and state governments. The Environmental Protection Agency has set minimum rules that these landfills must follow (EPA). Some things might not be allowed in landfills for trash from cities and towns. Paints, cleaners, chemicals, motor oil, batteries, and pesticides are just some of the things that can’t be put in MSWs. But some things from homes can be recycled into MSW and thrown away that way.

Landfills for building and tearing down waste

These landfills are used to store the trash that comes from building, remodelling, tearing down, and building bridges. Trash comes in many forms, including concrete, wood, asphalt, gypsum (the main ingredient in drywall), metals, bricks, glass, plastics, trees, stumps, dirt, rock, and building materials (doors, windows, plumbing fixtures).

Places to put industrial trash

Industrial hazardous waste is a type of waste that is made up of non-hazardous waste from manufacturing and other industrial processes.

Why do we need landfills?

The main purpose of a landfill is to get rid of trash that businesses and homes can’t recycle or reuse. If people keep acting the way they do now and the population keeps growing, this waste is likely to get worse. Even though the number of people who recycle is going up, trash in general still needs to be handled in a safe and effective way.

Specific landfills 

Avenal Regional Landfill 

The CalRecycle-approved Avenal Regional Landfill is a cutting-edge municipal solid waste disposal site that complies fully with all national, state, and local laws. The distance from I-5 to Avenal Regional Landfill is about five kilometres. The Skyline Boulevard serves as the entry to the landfill. Municipal solid garbage, construction/demolition waste, and specific wastes are all accepted at the site with the appropriate authorization.

Acme Landfill

The business participates in recycling, lowering carbon emissions by converting from diesel to compressed natural gas-powered trucks, supporting composting, and other neighbourhood initiatives that support environmental preservation, sustainability, and education. You can take yard waste, white goods and bulky wastes, clean soil, municipal solid waste, construction and demolition waste, and wood there.

Bass Hill Landfill

The Bass Hill Landfill is in the Johnstonville Area on Hwy. 395 in Susanville, CA, 96130. Construction and demolition waste, municipal solid waste, ash, tires (auto), white goods and bulky wastes, and yard waste are all things they will take.

Why do we need landfills?

The main reason for a landfill is to get rid of trash that can’t be recycled or reused. As the population grows and people keep acting the way they do now, this waste is likely to get worse.

Even though recycling rates are getting better, there is still general waste that needs to be dealt with in a safe and effective way.

How do these landfills hurt the environment?

These dumps have been a major source of pollution from many different places. First of all, there will be a lot of runoff from the landfill itself, and there is a lot of open land and water out here. The runoff will end up in streams, which will carry it to the wetlands, where it will pollute them. Second, the garbage in the landfill will give off a lot of methane gas, which will make the air quality much worse. Methane is a gas that warms the air.

It is the same thing we burn in our stoves. Because greenhouse gases keep heat in the air, we are slowly warming the planet and changing the weather. Methane can also break down into carbon dioxide, which we already have a lot of and don’t need more of. Third, the dump will have leaks. Over time, the trash in a landfill will pack together and leave spaces for air. That air will have plastics and other things that are bad for the environment. When that air is let out, it will contain chemicals and toxic gases that are bad for the air. When you add them all up, it’s pretty clear that landfills are a big problem for the environment.

What can be done about these landfills?

It’s not hard to get rid of trash dumps. We only have to do something easy or something that has been done everywhere. We can keep the garbage dumps safe if we build four walls around them. Then we can make a natural park with beautiful views and a road so people can get there. This will turn the trash dumps into a park with lots of nature. I think it would be a great idea to stop those landfills from getting worse.