Landfill is a place where people dump rubbish so it can be buried, usually this takes place on the outskirts of cities. Waste from the city area is loaded onto lorries which carry the waste to the landfill site.
At the site the waste is tipped off the back of the lorries and onto tipping pads. The rubbish is compacted to form a layer which covers the waste below. The sites are monitored, but the amount of rubbish being deposited is increasing every year and the sites are becoming full.
Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
The long beach municipal waste landfill, CA, has been closed since 1987, when a 20 acre parcel was leased to dispose of organic waste (also known as yard waste) from the parks and public works departments, and to expand the regional recycling program.
However, this landfill is slated to reopen in 2012. The landfill will be used to dispose of yard waste and food waste, as well as some commercial waste.
It is expected to generate approximately 1,200 tons of methane gas per day, which will be collected and sold to the Southern California Gas Company to produce electricity. The food waste will be recycled into natural gas (a cleaner alternative to diesel fuel) and compost which will be sold to garden supply stores.
Industrial Waste Landfills
Industrial waste landfills are landfills designed to handle industrial and commercial waste. Industrial waste landfills are different from sanitary landfills in several ways.
One of the most significant differences is the larger space requirement. Industrial waste landfills require huge amounts of space to handle the waste which makes it difficult for them to be located near residential areas.
Another difference is that disposal of certain kinds of waste is prohibited at sanitary landfills. These items are placed in special industrial waste landfills instead.
The types of waste that are prohibited in sanitary landfills include industrial byproducts, chemical waste and petroleum.
Green Waste Landfills In Long Beach, California
The Long Beach Green Waste Landfill is the largest landfill in Southern California. It is the only city-operated dump on the West Coast, and it is located near the Los Angeles-Orange County border.
The landfill is located at 5601 E. Spring Street. It has a capacity of approximately 5 million tons of waste. The landfill is: 60 acres in size and is 33 feet high. It has a length of 8,100 feet and a width of 2,100 feet.
On average, it receives around 4,000 tons of debris per day from a variety of sources, including: Hazardous Waste Tires Mattresses Green Waste Laboratory Waste Yard Waste Electronic Waste Carpet Non-Metallic Waste Recyclables White Goods Asbestos Drums Batteries Oil-based Paint Automotive Parts Wood Roofing Materials Household Appliances Solvents Drywall Vinyl Household Plastics Furniture Scrap Metal Paint Plastics Propane Tanks Brick Asphalt Frozen Food Asbestos Cement Stone Electrical Equipment Shipments from the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.
How To Generate Electricity From A Landfill In Long Beach, California?
It seems like a bad idea to make electricity from a landfill. But there are actually some advantages to this. For example, landfills are already built and it would be a waste of tax payer money to not use the resources there. Also, the idea of making electricity from a landfill is to reduce the amount of electricity required for the operation of the landfill.
In California, there is a law that requires a certain amount of electricity be made from renewable resources by a certain date. The law is designed to reduce the use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) that are a major contributor to global warming.
The best idea is to do a feasibility study to determine if it is possible to make electricity from a landfill in Long Beach.