by teddlesruss dat who

Created on: November 04, 2008

Taking this topic at its word, is difficult. The problem of waste is not limited to the landfill. Landfills are not the only place where waste becomes a problem. As with much of the world's ecologicla ills at the moment, the problem escapes from the landfill into the realms of politics and economics. So I'd like you to think about the big picture here.

Placing the onus on city people (where the majority of the landfill problem originates, due to the sheer weight of numbers) is counterproductive. Asking each person to compost their digestible waste is not only totally silly, it's futile and unproductive in the long run. Asking them to separate their waste into ever more fine distinctions or recycleability is similarly not the answer. There is an answer but it's a few paragraphs away, hang in there...

Landfills are mostly associated with cities and large settlements. They are caused by the aggregation of population but not really the ideal solution. Landfills restrict the places a city can grow, which may be a good thing, let's ring the cities with landfills so they can't get larger and thus contribute to the problem! (But sadly, that's not the answer either.)

Take the recycling drives in many cities. I've seen some excellent schemes, and some that are, well, not so admirable. None of them actually reduce the waste problem, most just shift it around. They do however remove undegradable objects out of the landfill. So let's go with that, for the moment ignoring how to make sure recycling is more diligently carried out and - more importantly - carried to its conclusion.

Once you recycle the indigestible wastes, you're left with what is in effect biomass. There are fungii and bacteria which specialise in snacking on biomass and recducing it to compost/soil. The problem of course, is that there is no incentive for waste management companies to do more than dump rubbish, compact it, and bury it.

Now suppose they were required by law, as part of their business license, to breed and apply these bacteria and fungii to the biomass as part of the layering/compacting process. Many waste companies would now probably quit the business, just one more cost to absorb.

But - these biodegrading agents produce a bonanza in the form of (most often) methane gas as a waste product. Methane is flammable and energetic - ideal for producing power from. Selling that power back to the utility company would be an ideal way for thse companies to recoup the cost of the seeding process.

The requirements

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