One of the most densely populated states in the nation, New Jersey has a number of difficult and complicated issues regarding its landfills and waste management in general.
With limited space and an industrial history, the state has struggled to find sustainable ways to deal with its waste and the environmental and public health problems that landfills create in areas such as Trenton and others.
Existing Landfill Infrastructure
New Jersey has long depended on landfills to dispose of much of its waste.
But due to increased waste and less land, over the last few decades, the state has drastically reduced the amount of active landfills. Finally, as of today there are few functioning municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, with most waste diverted to gateways outside of the state and recycling initiatives.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) implements strict regulations governing landfills in New Jersey to limit the potential negative impact on the environment. Landfills dispose of waste, and constructive measures such as liners, leachate collection systems, and methane capture technologies protect contamination and greenhouse gas emissions. However, many older and closed landfill sites remain problematic, and can be a source of ongoing pollution.
Generation and Diversion of Waste
The solid waste stream in New Jersey, from residential, commercial and industrial sources, amounts to millions of tons every year.
The state has been active in encouraging waste diversion via recycling and composting. Indeed, New Jersey was one of the first states to pass mandatory recycling legislation in the 1980s, building on existing recycling programs by requiring municipalities to offer recycling programs for certain materials.
Recycling has reduced the burden on landfills but has not solved the problem. Contamination in recycling streams and boom-and-bust markets for recyclable materials have made it trickier to divert waste. Moreover, not everything can be recycled, and mountains of construction and demolition waste often still land in landfills.
Environmental Concerns
Landfills create various environmental hazards, especially in a populated state like New Jersey. Key concerns include:
Groundwater Contamination: As water seeps through waste, it forms leachate, a liquid that can leach into underground sources of drinking water carrying hazardous substances. Although today’s landfills are equipped to manage the liquid, older, unlined landfills release the leachate, and they have long been implicated in contaminating groundwater and drinking water supplies
Landfill idle: Decomposed organic waste emits methane that can act as greenhouse gas. Though many landfills in New Jersey capture the methane and use it to generate energy, some emissions break free into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change
Land Use Conflicts: The limited land available for development sometimes leads to conflicts between landfills and other land uses, particularly residential and commercial development. Closed landfills must also be monitored in the long term, thus utilizing valuable land resources
Closed and Legacy Landfills
New Jersey has more than 800 landfills that were closed or abandoned, and many of them were opened before modern environmental regulations were enacted. Many of these sites are in need of remediation owing to contamination issues. Some older landfills, for instance, have been transformed into parks, solar farms or other facilities, but remediation can be costly and complex.
As older landfills close, the state is becoming more dependent on out-of-state waste disposal, driving up both transportation costs and environmental repercussions.
Waste Management Policy and Future Initiatives
New Jersey committing to landfill solutions Key initiatives include:
Zero Waste Goals: Ambitious state-wide goals have led to increased recycling, composting and waste reduction strategies in place to divert trash away from the landfill
Waste-to-Energy Facilities: New Jersey has numerous waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities that process non-recyclable waste into energy. Though these facilities cut down on landfill volumes, they are criticized for air pollution and carbon emissions
Closed Landfills for Renewables: The state has converted some closed landfills into solar and wind energy sites. These projects compliment New Jersey’s clean energy objectives while redeveloping land that otherwise may not be useable
Better Recycling Efforts: New Jersey has also invested in upgrades to sorting facilities, as well as public education campaigns to correct improper recycling behaviours that add to contamination
Community Health and Public Health Issues
The communities next to landfills often complain of smells, noise and extra truck traffic. Although modern landfill design seeks to mitigate these effects, there’s typically strong public opposition to new or expanded landfill projects. There are also heavy environmental justice concerns, given that landfills and waste facilities tend to find their home in low-income and minority communities.
The state of New Jersey is not only a densely populated area, but also one of the historically most environmentally sensitive areas.
Despite advancements in waste diversion and modern landfill waste management, legacy site contamination, environmental risk, and limited land availability still prevail across the state. With continued investments in innovative waste-reduction programs, renewable energy initiatives, and expanding recycling infrastructure, New Jersey can decrease its dependence on landfills even more and continue on the path to a more sustainable future.
Renting a dumpster to clean out and dispose of junk and garbage is the best way to bring a large quantity of unwanted junk to the landfill. But one question people may ask thmeselves is, how is such a landfill manage to optimize its waste management processes and reduce pollution?
The major role of a landfill is to separate the buried waste and its environment. However, whether the burial method is by backfilling a zone with relief hilly or by creating a tumulus overhanging the natural ground, the precautions to take and the adjustments to be made will be similar.
Before any spill of waste, the landfill will be insulated at the base and on the sides by means of layers of waterproof materials. Drainage systems will also be put in place way to collect leachate. During filling by people using a dumpster near me or other means of waste disposal, degassing wells will be high in order to allow the collection and treatment of the biogas produced.
At the end of operation (and sometimes even during operation, in the case of cells for example), the containment of the waste will be ensured by a cover mineral and/or earth to limit the risks for the population and the environment.
Among the development works to help from dumpster rentals and other trucks bringing garbage, it is also necessary to consider the devices making it possible to control the impact of the landfill on the environment, namely the piezometric wells surrounding the site in order to control the level and quality of the water in the aquifers as well as nearby air and surface water quality analysis stations of the site.
Waste management research shows all the general characteristics development of the landfill. The basis of the landfill, the safety barriers that are placed on the natural terrain at the base of the landfill, including including the sides when the latter is concave in shape, have the function of protecting soil and aquifers against contamination by leachate. We distinguish two types of safety barriers: static sealing barriers or geomembranes plastic and dynamic or clay barriers.
The care with which the background of the landfill will need to be prepared however depends on the environmental conditions. The presence of impermeable soil layers satisfying the criteria and the climatic conditions are factors which will be taken into consideration.
Indispensable, the establishment of a clay barrier, in addition to the impermeable layers fulfilling the minimum conditions for installation, can be made using natural materials (natural clays), materials geocomposites (such as bentonite swelling clays) or a mixture of the two.
The creation of the clay barrier is done by compacting successive layers of homogeneous material (comprising more than 15% of particles passing to 2 µm including more than 10% of swelling agents, more than 30% of particles passing to 60 µm, less than 10% refusal at 10 mm, no element larger than 50 mm, less than 1% organic matter with a carbon/nitrogen ratio less than 20) and at an optimum plasticity (liquidity limit less than 80%, plasticity index between 10% and 30%, even 40%) in order to ensure a certain homogeneity and continuity of the material.
On the floor surface of the landfill, we define zones (called cells) of approximately 50 to 200 m on a side depending in particular on the conditions for the implementation of leachate and atmospheric water drainage.
Each cell will be crossed longitudinally by a slight ditch which will then accommodate the main drain (possibly made up of several cheaper parallel drains). A certain profiling of the clay barrier must be respected in order to print, on both sides of the ditch, and along the ditch itself, slopes of 2 to 5% to allow the flow of liquids and the laying of secondary drains.
After installation, the waterproofing barrier dynamic will have a minimum thickness of 50 cm and will be at least equivalent to a layer of clay with a thickness of 1 m having a coefficient of permeability 10–9 m/sec.
In practice, analyzes and laboratory tests must be carried out to select the materials and determine the conditions for work in terms of humidity, density, compaction, etc. On-site tests after installation use dumpster rentals will also be carried out in order to assess the installation and guarantee the required seal.
There are 2 methods to dispose of trash: one is to bury it in the ground and the other is to place it
An accessible hole in the ground in which trash is buried, attracting a species of wildlife (rats, mice, birds) to congregate. Most people’s definition of a landfill is something like this!
There are various types of landfills, which are either built into the ground or placed atop it (groundwater, air, rain). A bottom liner as well as daily soil covering are used to achieve this level of isolation. A clay liner separates the waste from the rest of the environment in a sanitary landfill. a synthesised (plastic) liner is used to separate the trash first from surrounding environment in a municipal waste (MSW) landfill
The goal of a landfill is really to bury waste in a manner that isolates it from groundwater, keeps it dry, and keeps it out of the atmosphere. Trash won’t decompose much in these conditions. A landfill isn’t just about a composting process, where the goal is to quickly decompose waste.
Making the Landfill Proposal
Some specific procedures must be followed in order for such a landfill to really be constructed. The location and operation of landfills are regulated in most countries around the world. The entire process begins with a landfill proposal.
Local u.s. states are responsible for disposing of trash and constructing landfills. An impact on the environment study is required before a landfill can be built by a city or even other authority.
Land required for a landfill’s operation
The soil and bedrock composition, as well as the rate at which water flows over the site.
Proposed landfill impact on the environment and wildlife in its vicinity
The proposed site’s historical or archaeological significance
A landfill can only be built if there is enough land for it. The Southeast Wake County Landfill in Raleigh, N.c., serves as a good example of how much land is required for a landfill. In addition to an active MSW landfill, there was a sanitary landfill on the property until 1997. Only 70 acres of the site’s 230 acres are devoted to the landfill. Support areas will be built on the remaining land.
Second, the soil and bedrock beneath the surface must be analysed. Any leakage should be prevented by making the rocks as watertight as possible. Faulty bedrock makes it impossible to know where waste will go. Because they frequently come into contact with the groundwater supply, mines and quarries aren’t good choices for a construction site. Additionally, you need to be able to shoot down wells around the site so that you can monitor this same groundwater or catch any waste that may be leaking out of the site.
Third, the area’s water flow should be investigated. You don’t want rainwater from a nearby landfill dripping onto your property or the other way around. It is also important that the landfill is located far enough away from waterways so that any possible future leak from of the landfill does not reach nearby rivers, streams, or wetlands.
Fourth, you should look into the impact of the landfill as well as any contamination it may cause on the wildlife in the area. When it comes to birds, for example, you don’t want to put it near their nests. Local fisheries should also be avoided. Visit here to learn about Air Pollution in the United States.
It’s also a bad idea to build a landfill on a historical or archaeologically significant site.
Permits should be collected from the local, state, and federal governments once the environmental review is complete. In addition, taxes as well as municipal bonds will be needed to fund the construction and operation of the landfill. An estimated $19 million in municipal bonds was used to construct this same North Wake County Landfill. A referendum or local government approval is required because most funding comes from public sources.
