Quick Key Facts
- There are 2,600 landfills for municipal solid waste (MSW) in the U.S.
- The average person generates 4.9 pounds of MSW each day, and by 2050 global waste generation is expected to increase by 73% from 2020 levels.
- Modern sanitary landfills are not merely open repositories for waste, but have many complex components, including a composite liner, collection systems for methane and leachate, and environmental monitoring systems.
- In the absence of light, oxygen and the necessary bacteria, it can take decades for food to break down completely in a landfill, producing methane as it slowly decomposes.
- Landfills are the third largest source of methane — a greenhouse gas that’s 25% more potent than CO2 — emissions in the U.S.
- In 2018, 600 million tons of construction and demolition debris were generated, which is more than twice the amount…
Read the full article originally published at www.ecowatch.com.