apes module 53 - landfills and incineration

• landfills are the primary destination for municipal solid waste
• MSW is municipal solid waste
• landfills are expensive to build and require tipping fees
• tipping fee = cost per ton of garbage deposited at the site
• there is little biological and chemical activity in landfills, meaning there is little change in volume
• methane and carbon dioxide is released via decomposition
• landfills may pollute aquifers via leachate
• modern landfills have many features that keep components of solid waste from entering the soil, water tables, or nearby streams
• modern landfills have a clay/plastic liner, a leachate collection system, a cap preventing additional water from entering, and sometimes a methane extraction system
• incineration plants combust waste to reduce its volume and mass
• describe the process of incineration plants


  MSW combusted -> exhaust filtered -> ash disposed into a landfill
• waste-to-energy

  heat generated via incineration is used as energy instead of being released into the atmosphere
• tipping fees are higher at incinerators than landfills
• the ash incinerators produced may be toxic, requiring special disposal at a toxic landfill
• incinerators may release air pollutants from incomplete combustion