Air pollutant emissions from MSW landfills - the {open_quotes}sleeper{close_quotes} issue for landfill design and regulation
- Alternative Resources, Inc., Concord, MA (United States)
Five years have passed since US EPA adopted the now well-known hierarchy for management of MSW - source reduction, recycling, waste-to-energy, and, for waste that cannot be practically recycled or combusted, landfilling. Despite US EPA`s preferred waste-management hierarchy, the United States, as a country, continues to rely on landfilling as its principal means of MSW management. This disparity is also true locally, in the case of the nation`s most populous city, New York City. The City deposits most residential MSW in its Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, some four million tons of MSW per year. What is more, while the City is indeed implementing recycling, its formal waste-management plans also call for continued heavy reliance on the Fresh Kills Landfill for 10 years or more into the future. Because landfills continue to serve as the MSW management {open_quotes}workhorse{close_quotes} in many locales, it is believed that a full accounting of landfill environmental emissions is called for, to enable adequate environmental safeguards in the design of landfills, appropriate regulation of landfill environmental emissions, and informed public decision-making about MSW management in general. Evidence is presented that air pollutant emissions, in particular, from landfills pose a significant environmental threat that is largely unrecognized by most people. Locally in New York City, there is an awakening to the issue of landfill air-pollutant emissions, as evidenced by the recent undertaking of a study of air quality near the Fresh Kills Landfill by Federal, State, and local agencies. In general, however, the public`s concern over landfill air-pollutant emissions is limited to odor nuisance.
- OSTI ID:
- 41761
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950271--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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