Michael Solves the Landfill Crisis September 15, 2007
Posted by Michael in Economics, Gardening.trackback
My favorite environmental bogeyman is the landfill crisis. We are supposedly generating too much solid waste. This has led to the pernicious recycling craze, which requires me to toss my beer bottles into a special bin in the garage rather than the nearest trash can.
Of course, some items clearly need to be recycled because they are hazardous, like computer and cell phone batteries, or engine oil.
But for general solid waste, it is not clear that recycling does more good than harm to the environment, when you consider the effects of an entire second fleet of garbage trucks to collect recyclable material, the reprocessing plants, etc. You’re basically making a trade-off between incomparable environmental harms. How bad is a landfill compared to, for example, the air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions caused by recycling? Nobody can really say.
[However, if your wife is a dedicated recycler, like Mrs. Michael or Mrs. Dean's World, you are well advised not to mention this to her.]
At the same time that we are struggling with the disposal of solid waste, we are totally ignoring the hideous after-effects of an ecological disaster that resulted in the single most obvious scar on the landscape of North America. It was caused by catastrophic erosion.
I am talking, of course, about the Grand Canyon.
So, we have two problems and an obvious solution: Let’s repair the Grand Canyon!!!
You heard me. Fill it in. It might take a few millennia, but hey, the damage didn’t happen overnight either.
That solves the landfill problem.
Sure, there are a couple of issues. For example, you would need to gradually put a concrete cap on the Colorado River, so that it became an underground pipe. That shouldn’t be too hard.
Tourism is another issue. So, you could leave intact a section of the canyon, say 35 river miles, for the tourists. I mean, 98% of the people who see the Grand Canyon have seen less than 15 miles of it. Five million people per year go to the National Parks Service overlooks along on the south rim that you can easily get to on paved roads. They take a look at a tiny fragment of the canyon.
The Grand Canyon is 277 river miles long.
The average depth of the Grand Canyon is one mile, and the average rim-to-rim width is 10 miles. (Grand Canyon Facts.) The Grand Canyon is pretty much just a big, ugly, rocky, barren hole in the ground. In other words, it’s the perfect landfill. There’s plenty of room for all the disposable diapers, beer cans, and dead junkies that we want to dump into this thing:
The arid climate would be beneficial. Most of the trash would dry out pretty quick, mitigating any odor issues that might discourage tourists in the section we preserve.
I say, let’s take a fresh look at the landfill issue. Stop sorting your frickin’ trash. A better solution is right in front of us.
You’re welcome.
You’ll be hearing from the Reverend Bore soon enough, you blasphemer.
Why can’t we just use football stadiums?
Football stadiums? Now that is blasphemy you godless heathen!
Why dump your garbage so far away in the Grand Canyon, Mr. Michael? That wastes fossil fuels transporting the crap.
You could build a mound, hill, or mountain right here in your own region. And maybe someday you could snow-ski, mountain climb, or 4WD on it. It’s been done at Michigan’s “Mount” Brighton.
Grand Canyon? oh man, you know how many diapers I can put it that thing?
Landfills, at least the ones i’ve been to, are actually pretty cool. There are huge trucks with wheels taller than you rolling around and flaming pipes coming up out of the ground burning off the gas. It’s really kind of Sci-fi-ish. Like a poor man’s Bladerunner. And the smell really isn’t bad at all until you get to the fresh dump areas. I think if more people actually went to landfills they wouldn’t have such a bad reputation.
ftr, aluminum cans are one example of a really good recycling idea. I ran the numbers a while back, and I don’t remember exactly how they turned out, but basically, when you compare extracting aluminum from bauxite ore to extracting aluminum from cans, it takes something like 10% of the energy to get the same amount from cans. I know that’s not phrased well. I’m very sleepy. Also, if I am remembering the numbers correctly, the process of extracting aluminum from bauxite alone accounted for something like 20% of the energy the entire US used in a year. That’s just that one process. Doesn’t even include the overhead used to run those factories.
So, recycling cans is definitely worthwhile.
We used to go to the indoor trash dump in North Las Vegas by Craig road and the Freeway.
I called it Soylent Green.
There are nails galore on the ground there. I averaged one flat tire for every 4 trips to the dump.
Yeah, nails are a problem here too. I couldn’t even tell you how many plugs i’ve put in my tires.
Almost forgot, Penn and Teller did a show on recycling a while back and basically said the same thing as Mrs. Peel. According to them, aluminum is the only thing that truly gets recycled, most of the paper and plastic products that people think are getting recycled are actually ending up in landfills because it’s too expensive to process. If you haven’t seen their show on Shotime, most are pretty good, worth checking out.
I posted a link forever a go to that episode forged, apparently all the links are pulled.
I can understand recycling plastics, and glass and metals.
Pretty much everything else is a vanity.
Actually from some of the stuff I read, even recycling plastics is environmentaly unsound (for the moment) but they are plastics, so it might not be a bad idea to segregate plastics, in case future process become more reasonable.
I don’t think the battery’s are nearly as bad as they are depicted, seeing as how they are all based on alkali’s which are highly reactive, so the salts that are formed are unpleasent, they aren’t like mercury, or lead.
Before we had our present carpet installed, the carpet company gave me a 20-30 minute video on how my carpet is made of recycled clear plastic bottles (like from 2-liter Coke bottles). Not a lot of other stuff goes into them. Old bottles are shredded up, re-heated to liquid, and processed through equipment that turn the stuff into fibers. It’s considered high quality carpet and we never have problems with stains. Ever see a stain on an empty 2-liter Soda bottle? Nope!
Our soaker hoses are constructed from old tires, and work great.
History Channel has a great series called “The Boneyard” all about things being recycled. They usually include cost-benefit analysis on the stuff. Pretty cool show.
I love watching “How it’s Made” on the Science Channel (?).
Something about watching high-speed automated assembly lines is very hypnotic.
Well, that and boobs in sinusoidal motion, of course.
RG — You and I end up with similar views on lots of stuff. Yea! High speed automated assembly lines are addictive. I’m not going to comment about the boob-thing. (Oh! I just did!) I so look forward to meeting you and Mrs. RG at the IBSBP.
Hey, RG! I used to work at the North Las Vegas facility many years ago. It is the central repository of all the recycling stuff in the Las Vegas area. I was a sorter on the lines there for abour 8 or 9 months. We recycled a lot of stuff there: glass, newspaper, cardboard, computer paper, plastic bottles, magazines, and of course tin & aluminum cans. I eventually worked my way down the line to the cans. I was told by the guys that run the place that the cans were really the only profitable stuff to recover – they paid for the rest of the operation. It was an interesting experience.
Enas — that’s what I want to do when I grow up… sort recycling stuff!
I was taught how to work on a few pieces of equipment that were constantly used bottling and canning lines, and did a sorta semi-internship, (lots of travel for the job, so you spend the first, I think 6 months, barely making any money, to see if you can handle the job, then you get a pretty damn good pay rate) for a company that specificaly contracted for the most common equipment on lines (ejectors, and triggers) but wasn’t like the bigger line maintenance company’s.
And, yeah, it’s pretty friggen awesome to watch
I love “How It’s Made!” I find myself thinking,”Damn, that’s clever,” about every thirty seconds while watching – the only thing is, I wish they could show us earlier assembly lines as well, sometimes. You know? How the process developed. Still, I love that show.
Turning the Grand Canyon into a landfill is nothing short of brilliant. Although I like the idea of building mountains out of garbage so we can later ski down them. You two compliment each other quite nicely.
I actually prefer driving down the highway and throwing my garbage out the window. It helps feed the critters, gives crows nesting materials, and makes indians cry.
Flicking lit cigarettes into the dry brush out west is also a grand thing to do. The ensuing burn off of tens of thousands of acres helps to rejuvinate the forest floor.
It helps feed the critters, gives crows nesting materials, and makes indians cry.
I’m religious about throwing my used Floss out the window.
Birds incorporate it into their nests in beautiful artistic ways.
EARLY environmentalists/ecologists, and people who loved the environment, recommended making the grand canyon a reservoir.
Shows where environmentalism has gone in the last 100 years.
I thought the Grand Canyon was a Tourist location?
Why would you want to fill up such a beautiful place with diapers and what not?
Although its a highly intellegent idea I also think it may cause huge ecological disaster, you just never know with that kind of stuff.
Also what if feral animals come in because there attracted to the smell??
Oh and what about those bargan hunters!! You know those people that love to visit the local dumpo because they find useless and half broken things, stuff that they will only soon through away or tuck away deep into there cupboards or garages? what happens to them?
I’ll tell you, they fall down the Canyon on there way down and bang! dead. Bad publicity
I should really get back to my science essay =]