What Will Happen If (When?) Our Landfills Are Full?
If landfills are stocked to the brim, what’s the next step? Some say, we’ll just need to clear the way for additional landfills—however, the more landfills that are built, the closer those could be in proximity to inhabitants. Furthermore, exactly what land would be overtaken for those new dumps? Perhaps acres that are currently being used as recreational sites? Or, areas with fresh water sources that feed into our towns’ supplies? If so, our public access to the outdoors would be sacrificed and our safe water sources could be at the risk of contamination.
Landfills in the Ocean
Beyond what most individuals witness, the largest landfill is actually in the ocean. The North Pacific Ocean’s gyre, one of five central ocean gyres on the globe, is home to a bundle of debris dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Ocean gyres are circular ocean currents caused by the Earth’s wind patterns and the planet’s rotation. Towards the center, the water is calm, so—like a flushing toilet bowl—the debris is drawn toward the middle and becomes stagnant.
The North Pacific’s floating garbage pile has a higher concentration of plastic than other parts of the ocean and is composed of millions of tiny pieces of plastic. What’s the big deal? Creatures mistake the particles as food, causing death to animals such as birds and fish. The plastic also enables a topical surface for crustaceans and invertebrates, which do not normally live in those sections of the ocean. Ergo, their migration affects the ecosystems that they’ve left and those that they now inhabit.
Recycling and Sorting Solutions
In the long run, none of these prospects—adding landfills to the oceans, wilderness areas, or near our fresh waterways—are positive options for the livelihood of our great grandchildren, grandkids, or the natural world, in which they will live, explore and survive.
To address the issue of topped-out landfills and the massive accumulation of waste, sorting systems are required to reduce and even eliminate the waste going to landfill.
Reduce the use of plastics, recycle, and compost
To aid the necessary shift, General Kinematics creates systematic solutions for organizing waste products, which ultimately uncovers reclaimable goods and prevents that waste from entering landfills!
