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Landfill
This is the most commonly know of type of waste handling process. In Layman’s terms it’s a hole in the ground which is filled with waste and compacted down until there is no longer a hole.
These sites are designed to take all forms of solid waste from manufacturing to household waste. Historically they have been the most frequently used method of disposing of waste but recent restrictions on the dumping of animal by products has led to a shift away from landfill sites in certain areas of the manufacturing sector.
The government have also begun taxing landfill sites to try and encourage mass waste producers to find an alternative method of waste disposal. These taxes look set to continue increasing due to the amount of space which can be designated for landfill becoming smaller and smaller.
The UK is now being brought into line with the rest of Europe through the implementation of the Landfill Directive.
The problem with landfill sites is that they give off a range of gases which can be both harmful to the environment and unpleasant for local communities. Typically a landfill site will produce large quantities of methane gas which is vented to the atmosphere. In recent times the introduction of methane driven generators has begun in order to make use of the gases which are emitted during the natural decomposition of the waste which has been dumped. These generators will feed the power to local sites in order to reduce their external energy requirements. Although this is beneficial to local businesses it doesn’t have any additional benefits to local community and the amount of power generated is unlikely to be sufficient to completely replace a businesses electric requirements.
This has not yet been incorporated into all landfill sites meaning at the present time the majority of sites are venting this gas off to the atmosphere. Not only is this a waste of a naturally occurring gas which can be used to generate power, but as a green-house gas it is around twenty times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.