12-25-2007, 01:26 PM
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Whoa, lets back up a minute. If the landfills aren't lined shouldn't they be?
Yes, all new landfills must be lined and capped. However, if a landfill isn’t lined there really is no way short of removing all the contaminants and rubbish and line it, not something that can be done after the fact.
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If this company is mining landfills to produce energy then perhaps this is something hawaii should look at seriously.
Mining for methane is nothing more than installing a collection pipe system and harvesting the methane gas for fuel, It still does nothing for the collected waste and hazardous leeching that occurs to the environment. Landfills are by their nature, are hazardous waste sites. But there have been accidents from methane gas explosions in these systems.
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Maybe I'm just green dreaming but I see landfills like huge organic compost heaps churning out usable gas with an eventual byproduct of organic fertilizer.
Landfills can not produce fertilizer. Besides the organic waste deposited in landfills, there’s equally as much non-organic waste. You have tires, oil, chemicals, medical waste, asbestos, dirty diapers, dog food, dogs, wood, mercury, chromium, arsenic, lye, weeds, Weed, drugs, aluminum, iron, glass, plastics, computers, toner cartridges, electronic parts, batteries, car engines, lawn mowers, gas cans, light bulbs, spoiled food, contaminated food, leather, clothing, human waste human parts, and heaven forbid – Auntie Irma’s home made fruit cake; all stewing in a big toxic mash. Would you want that fertilizing your garden?
Current regulations place something like ten-year separation from date of capping to date it can be converted to a brown field. That’s just to let the trash start to compact, methane extractors be installed, and testing of clean fill above the cap to make sure nothing toxic is seeping above the cap. The key word in all regulations is “Toxic”. And, this is what’s known. Few have attempted to dissect a municipal landfill due to the dangers. Sometimes it’s best to not arouse the unknown.