Why Does it Take so Long for Garbage to Decompose?
May 17th, 2012
It is a widely known fact that not all trash breaks down at a uniform rate. A banana peel, for instance, may take a few days to decompose while a glass bottle will take over a million years.
There are a few factors at play, which determine how long a piece of waste takes to decompose.
The Type of Waste
Generally speaking, natural refuse will breakdown far quicker than manmade garbage. For many natural pieces of refuse – discarded fruit and vegetables, dead plants and animals, etc. – the decomposition period is a matter of days, weeks, or months.
Human constructions, like Styrofoam or glass bottles, take more than a million years to decompose, if at all.
The reason natural refuse decomposes so much quicker than constructed material is because of autolysis. Autolysis, or “self-digestion,” is the consumption of an organism by its own acids and enzymes. This is what speeds the decomposition process of living, or once living, organisms. Even paper will decompose over the period of a few months because it came from a tree.
Because unnatural items like Styrofoam and glass bottles contain no acids or enzymes, they do not undergo autolysis and therefore take much longer to breakdown.
The Size of the Waste
Though the size of a piece of garbage factors into its decomposition rate far less than the previously detailed variable, it does still have an impact.
For instance, an edition of Toronto Sun may degrade in a couple months, while a package of 500 pieces of computer paper would likely last much longer if kept in the same place.
The Place of its Disposal
An apple core, or for that matter a window pane, will breakdown much quicker if left in an open field than if stored in a landfill. For decomposition to properly occur, an item needs access to light, oxygen, and moisture. In landfills, these three things are not easy to come by for materials at the bottom of hulking piles.
In consequence, landfills function as embalming devices for lots of material, preserving them rather than helping to decompose them.
The Problems With Landfills
April 30th, 2012
Landfills are the most common place for garbage to be deposited in North America. While these areas keep refuse out of sight and out of mind for most people, they produce a number of hazardous effects to people, animals, and the environment.
The Problem With Landfills
- Leachate – This refers to liquid (usually water) that absorbs solutes from pieces of physical matter as it passes through, or over it. Landfills produce massive quantities of harmful leachate when rainwater falls onto garbage heaps, absorbing things like battery acid, lead, and chemicals. This water can then be transferred to soils, bodies of water, and in turn, animals and people.
- Sustainability – Landfills are unsustainable. There is only so much land in the world and every year about 175 million tons of refuse enter landfills. While some matter will decompose in landfills, some materials, like plastic and Styrofoam, will last millions of years. Every year landfills take up more and more space.
- Cost – Landfills are costly to operate. Lining systems to protect against leachate are expensive, as is constantly treating water runoff.
- Appearance – Landfills are, for obvious reasons, aesthetically displeasing. They are typically kept away from populated areas, but as the volume of waste increases, they will become more common.
- Smell – For beyond obvious reasons, landfills are pretty offensive to our sense of smell.
- Animal Hazards – Landfills are hazardous to animals. Even if leachate does not enter into the groundwater or nearby streams, it can pool to form puddles that birds drink from. Landfills also contain large quantities of contaminated foods that rodents, birds, and snakes have access to.
- Human Hazards – While few people rush out to grab a bite at the old landfill, the entrance of leachate into streams can be dangerous. Landfills also contain hazardous chemicals potentially harmful to anyone who enters, be it employees or visitors.
- Soil Contamination – Once land is used as a landfill, its soil invariables becomes contaminated. This means that it cannot be used for much else afterwards unless it undergoes a very lengthy remediation process.
- Garbage Can Blow Away – Items from heaps of garbage can be caught by wind and taken out of landfills, and re-deposited in streams, parks, and residential areas.
Each and every person, household or organization can help reduce the amount of garbage sent to our landfills this year. Reducing, Reusing, Recycling and Refusing are the best places to start. Commit to something small this summer, perhaps developing a backyard compost or making the most out of your community green bin program and see how easy it is to make a difference
George Scott is the founder and CEO of Scott Environmental Group Ltd. (SEG), a leading provider of organic recycling, emergency response and commercial & industrial environmental cleaning services.
Learn more about George Scott
Find Me On
George Scott
650 Fortune Cr.
Kingston, Ontario (Canada)
K7P 2T3
Tel: 1.613.634.9274
Fax: 1.613.634.9956