7 Drawbacks of Disposing Solid Waste in Landfills

Solid waste is often dumped in landfills. Poor management, especially in developing countries like India, is the major cause of environmental degradation. Recent research has examined how waste pollution affects human health and the ecosystem. Toxic gases from landfills damage the environment and human health. Studies demonstrate that harmful waste gases can cause lung and heart ailments.

Leachate is highly toxic and pollutes the land and groundwater. This chapter addresses the environmental and toxicological issues associated with landfills, the challenges faced in the current scenario, and the potential solutions to the problem of municipal solid waste management.

Landfilling is one of the most common municipal solid waste disposal methods worldwide. Although it is considered the most cost-effective method of waste disposal, poor management practices, particularly in developing countries such as India, are significant sources of environmental pollution. Let’s discuss some major drawbacks of disposing of solid waste in landfills.

What Happens When Soil Waste Ends Up in Landfills?

When solid waste ends up in landfills, significant issues arise. Let’s give a quick look at these issues and see how they are impacting our lives. 

1. Toxins

Many waste materials contain toxic substances. Electronic waste and different types of industrial waste are perfect examples. Apart from this, Televisions, computers, and other electronic appliances include a variety of hazardous substances, including mercury, arsenic, cadmium, PVC, solvents, acids, and lead. These toxins leach into our soil and groundwater over time, posing long-term environmental hazards.

2. Solid Waste in Landfills Generates Leachate

The term “leachate” refers to the liquid produced when waste decomposes in a landfill and water filters through the waste simultaneously. This liquid is highly toxic and can potentially damage the groundwater, surface water, and waterways. A landfill typically stores significant volumes of harmful waste products in the surrounding ecosystem. As they degrade, plastics like PVC and other materials release poisonous compounds into the environment. In the developed world, the category of waste that is expanding at the highest rate is electronic waste.

Leachate is a foul-smelling liquor that comprises ammonia and various poisonous salts. It is created when rainwater filters through a dump, where it dissolves and flushes 5-7% of the poisons.

3. Greenhouse gas

When food scraps and other organic waste are put in a landfill, they are usually pressed down and covered. This takes away the oxygen and makes it break down in a process that doesn’t need oxygen. Methane, a greenhouse gas that is about 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide, is eventually released. Landfill gas comprises 35-55% methane and 30-44% carbon dioxide. Methane is another gas that can catch fire and become dangerous if it builds up in large amounts. 

4. Water Contamination

Water is a suitable solvent because it can dissolve many different chemicals. Because of this, pollution gets into the water as it moves through. It often has chemicals and gases that have dissolved in it. It’s easy for rain to mix with toxic liquids and seep into water streams, which end up in nearby bodies of water. So, there is a chance of contamination in the neighbourhood fountain, pond, lake, or drinking water taps.

5. Changes in Climate

The breakdown of garbage results in the production of dangerous greenhouse gases. These get into the atmosphere and act as a blanket for the heat. This hurts the environment and generates extreme weather reactions, such as storms and typhoons.

In what other ways are we impacted? In addition to the temperature, another factor that is significantly affected is the amount of precipitation in the air. At the moment, anything can be a potential issue, whether it be acid rain, extreme hailstorms, or even global warming. This extends into other spheres about subdivisions, such as thermal and radioactive contamination, for example.

6. Air Contamination

When it comes to air contamination, we cannot forget the ozone layer. Most of it renders us helpless because we believe we cannot affect the necessary changes. We believe that we are at our lowest possible consumption level. Despite this, we can at least adhere to the established procedures regarding how it is recycled.

When solid waste in landfills gets burned at a landfill, it results in the production of landfill gas. This gas can contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer and can also harm the people living in the surrounding area. In addition to that, methane gas contributes to it

7. Human Damage

Think about the fact that most people don’t have a scientific way to deal with their trash. There may be a system in these places, but there is no place to put trash.

The people who are most at risk are:

  • Children and people who live close to these places
  • Waste disposal workers
  • Employees whose jobs involve making waste or coming into contact with it

Think about how fires at garbage dumps affect people. Whether they come from the air or build up in our cellars, landfill gases have been shown to cause cancer, make it hard to breathe and see, and put people in constant danger when cans explode nearby.

Wrapping Up 

With the above discussion, you can see how solid waste that ends in landfills impacts our life. We need to take severe steps to control this rapid increase in solid waste if we continue ignoring this issue. It can indeed have the most significant impact on our coming generation. In order to reduce waste, one can take the help of an app like Upyogya, where we can share our surplus food and non-food items with others. By doing this, we are not only playing our role in reducing waste but also helping others.