Land Pollution

If you try to think about pollution on land, one of the first things you might think of is littering - when people simply throw their trash outside and don't dispose of it properly. But, is one's normal garbage a pollutant?

Solid waste, our garbage and the sludge remaining from sewage treatment, is a major pollutant. It is created from domestic, industrial, business, and agricultural practices, and pollution from it has been increasing over the years.

According to the EPA, the total US generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) - waste from homes, small businesses, schools, prisons, hospitals, etc. - is over 4lb per person per day, greater than that of most other countries.

One of the most common ways to dispose of solid waste is by putting it in landfills, which historically were simply large holes in the ground or empty spaces to dump piles of garbage. As much waste is buried, it is decomposed of anaerobically, releasing methane. In addition, chemicals can leach from the landfill into rainwater, producing leachate, which can carry these pollutants to the environment through infiltration into groundwater or runoff. 

Modern landfills are known as sanitary landfills, or sanitary municipal landfills, and are designed to minimize environmental effects. They typically have a clay/plastic bottom liner (reducing infiltration and groundwater contamination), a series of pipes serving as a leachate collection system (which recycles the leachate back into the landfill and prevents further pollution), a methane collection system (which collects the methane to reduce the effects of climate change - this methane can be used as a fuel source to produce energy or heat as well), a stormwater collection system (preventing runoff) and a cap (a top layer of soil for a full landfill which keeps the pollutants trapped inside, prevents runoff into nearby ecosystems, and allows for vegetation to be regrown and the restoration of habitats).

A special type of solid waste is e-waste (electronic waste), which is disposed of electronic devices such as an old TV or old cell phone. These cannot be placed in landfills, as they can result in the leaching of toxic metals and endocrine disruptors into groundwater. Lead and mercury, both neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors, are two common metals that can leach from e-waste.

In order to reduce e-waste, it should be recycled and reused. There are special locations that you can bring e-waste to, where they will recycle it so that the metals inside are used for something else, rather than causing environmental damage. Depending on where you live, there are a variety of drop-offs that will take old electronics, with all Best Buys nationwide being one example.