The Amazing Shrinking Landfill

Landfills are the most widely utilized solid waste management option. What is in our landfills? Although findings differ slightly, in 2006 approximately 26 percent of materials entering landfills were paper products, 18 percent food scraps, 16 percent plastic, 9 percent rubber, leather, and other textiles, 7 percent each of yard waste, metals, and wood, and 6 percent glass. This does not, however, reflect actual landfill content at any point in time since some materials decompose faster, or compact better, than others.

Prior to landfills, most Americans lived in sparsely populated rural farming communities, burning the majority of their garbage in open dumps. Early landfills took the place of those dumps, with no effort to compact or cover up the waste. Over the last few decades, these dumps have been replaced with landfills which are more sophisticated in design and regulated in every aspect, from siting to filling to closing.

Modern landfills are constructed with a number of safeguards, including clay or plastic lining to contain leachate. The waste is typically compacted in order to increase its density and stability, and covered to prevent any attraction of pests. As organic waste decomposes it generates gases, including methane which is a greenhouse gas. As portions of a landfill (called cells) are closed, pipes are often installed to vent or incinerate the gases before they can diffuse into the ground, increasing the risk of explosion. The gas can also be collected and used to generate electricity. (1)

The number of landfills in the United States has steadily declined over the last 2 decades (but has remained relatively constant since 2002); yet, the average size of landfills has increased. Building new landfills, however, is an expensive and time-consuming process, primarily due to community opposition and regulations requiring increasingly sophisticated engineering measures to ensure safety.

Saving of Landfill Space. Not having millions of plastic bottles in the landfill results in a saving of 6.7 cubic meters of landfill space that is at a premium right now. Plastic bottles also take an average of 500 years to biodegrade.

Plastics are used to manufacture everyday products such as beverage containers, toys, and furniture. The widespread use of plastics demands proper end of life management. Plastics make up more than 12 -16 percent of the municipal solid waste stream, a dramatic increase from 1960, when plastics were only one percent of the waste stream. The largest category of plastics are found in containers and packaging (e.g., soft drink bottles, lids, shampoo bottles), but they also are found in durable (e.g., appliances, furniture) and nondurable goods (e.g., diapers, trash bags, cups and utensils, medical devices). The recycling rate for different types of plastic varies greatly, resulting in an overall plastics recycling rate of only 7 percent, or 2.1 million tons in 2009

Enough plastic is produced in the United States each year to shrink wrap Texas.

• In 1998 Americans used 2 billion pounds of HDPE to make plastic bottles for household products. That’s the equivalent weight of 90,000 Honda civics.

• Approximately 88 percent of the energy is saved when plastic is made from plastic rather than from the raw materials of gas and oil.

• Enough plastic bottles are thrown away in the United States each year to circle the Earth four times. (2)

What are the benefits to recycling plastic bottles?

One of the most important reasons why we should recycle plastics is the fact that plastics can take thousand of years to biodegrade. This means these bulky and plentiful plastic materials either continue to fill up landfills or they wind up in our streams and oceans and along the streets and meadows of our communities throughout the world. Plastics are known as the largest contributor of waste in the world.

As recycling statistics point out, plastics are not recycled as efficiently as they should be. And this very important process will never begin until we, as individuals, take responsibility for helping the environment.

Conservation of Oil. When a ton of plastic bottles are recycled approximately 3.8 barrels of petroleum is saved.

Reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions. The substitution of recycled materials reduces the emission of greenhouse gases that are produced in the manufacturing of virgin materials.

Plastics Recycling

According to the American Chemistry Council, about 1,800 US businesses handle or reclaim post-consumer plastics. Plastics are usually collected from curbside recycling bins or drop-off sites. Then, they go to a material recovery facility, where the materials are sorted into broad categories (plastics, paper, glass, etc.). The resulting mixed plastics are sorted by plastic type, baled, and sent to a reclaiming facility. At the facility, any trash or dirt is sorted out, then the plastic is washed and ground into small flakes. A flotation tank then further separates contaminants, based on their different densities. Flakes are then dried, melted, filtered, and formed into pellets. The pellets are shipped to product manufacturing plants, where they are made into new plastic products. (3)

• 82 million tons of materials can be recycled in the United States.


• There is about 100% increase in the total recycling in the United States during the past decade.

• Each person produces 4.6 lbs. of trash per day in the United States.


• In 2005, roughly 8,550 curbside recycling programs existed throughout the United States. 8,875 programs existed in 2003.

• United States recycles about 32% of its waste today.

• An average American produced 800 kilograms of waste in the year 2005, compared to only 577 kilograms per person in Western Europe.

(1) www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/plastics.htm

(2) www.benefits-of-recycling.com/recyclingplasticbottles.html

(3) www.environliteracy.org/article.php/