Environmental Analytics: Landfills and Pollutions

Landfills

• Definition: A site for disposing of waste materials by burial, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground.
• Oldest form of waste treatment.

History of Landfills

• Stone Age: Waste was sometimes disposed of in clay pits, containing household waste like bones, leather scraps, and leftover food, all biodegradable.
• Antiquity: Landfills existed in front of city gates, containing construction waste, and Monte Testaccio (one of the 7 hills of Rome) had a "garbage dump of antiquity" with shards of amphorae from wine and oil trade, around 2000 years old.

Problematic Landfills

• Global solid waste management: About 2 billion tonnes of solid waste are generated per year, with non-official waste management practices.
• Bantar Gebang Landfill in Jakarta (Indonesia): One of the biggest landfills in Asia, with around 6,000 people living there, and over 6,000 tonnes of waste arriving daily.
• Jardim Gramacho Landfill in Brazil: A source of income for 13,000 people, but was closed in 2011 due to environmental risks.
• Agbogbloshi in Ghana: The biggest landfill in Africa, with major environmental and health concerns.

Landfill Legislation in Germany

• Sanitary landfills: About 2 billion tonnes of solid waste are generated per year, with EU waste legislation in place.
• Legislation hierarchy: EU legislation, federal legislation, federal state legislation, and municipal legislation.
• Laws for waste management: Kreislaufwirtschafts-/Abfallgesetz (Krw-/AbfG), Deponierichtlinie (EG-Richtlinie), Deponieverordnung (DepV), and more.
• Waste hierarchy: Prevention, reuse, recycling, other recovery, and disposal.

Sanitary Landfill Organisation in Germany

• Time periods of landfills: Construction, operating, and after-care phases, with controlling and maintenance.
• Site selection: Special type of soil, ground water situation, and more.
• Construction: 1.5 m clay, 2.5 mm polyethylen liner, leachate collection system, degassing systems, and more.
• Quality control and control tunnel.

Landfill Mining

• No information provided.

Microplastics

• No information provided.### Landfills
• In Germany, there are over 1200 landfills, with an estimated 83 million tons of iron and 10 million tons of copper and aluminum buried in them.

Materials in Landfills

• The content of landfills includes metals, such as iron, copper, and aluminum.

Microplastics

• Microplastics are plastic particles that are smaller than 5 mm.
• Primary microplastics are small plastic particles used in products like cosmetics and cleaning agents.
• Secondary microplastics come from the breakdown of larger plastic items.

Global Plastic Waste

• In 2015, the total amount of plastic waste was approximately 4.9 billion tons.
• The lifetime of plastic products varies, with some taking hundreds of years to decompose.
• Plastic waste treatment in Germany includes mechanical, chemical, and incineration methods.
• In 2015, approximately 1,000 tons of plastic waste were treated in Germany.

Plastic Waste in Oceans

• Plastic waste in oceans is a major environmental concern, with millions of tons of plastic waste entering the oceans every year.
• Plastic waste in oceans comes from various sources, including rivers, coastal populations, and mismanagement of plastic waste.
• "Plastic islands" are large amounts of plastic waste that have accumulated in oceans.
• Marine life is heavily affected by plastic pollution, with many species ingesting plastic waste.

Microplastic in Soil

• Scientists warn that there is up to 20 times more microplastic in soil than in the sea.
• Microplastic in soil comes from various sources, including abrasion of car tires, losses in waste disposal, and plastic in organic waste.
• The food chain is affected by microplastic in soil, which can lead to human consumption of microplastic.

Dissipative Use of Plastics

• Microplastics from car wheels, cosmetics, and other sources contribute to plastic pollution.

Degeneration of Soil Quality

• Impacts of microplastics on the soil biophysical environment are a growing concern.

Microplastic in Humans

• The average person consumes approximately 70,000 microplastics each year, which is a potential health concern.

Activities Against Pollution

• In 2017, nearly 200 countries signed a U.N. resolution to stop plastic pollution in the sea.
• Rwanda is plastic-bag-free since 2008, and France has banned single-use plastics.