but if garbage dumps fail to facilitate decomposition due to the lack of an oxygen rich environment, why wouldn’t the waste managers bore columns to pump in oxygen and good bacteria to compensate ?

Question

but if garbage dumps fail to facilitate decomposition due to the lack of an oxygen rich environment, why wouldn’t the waste managers bore columns to pump in oxygen and good bacteria to compensate ?

In: 272

Answer 1

I designed landfills for a couple years. It is less about air or oxygen, and more about water. You want anarobic decomposition, which creates carbon dioxide and methane. You can collect the gasses and burn them to generate electricity. The old philosophy was called “dry tomb” landfilling. Keep it dry and stable to prevent water migration. The water from landfils (leachate) is tough to treat. The more modern design philosophy refers to a “bioreactor” type landfill. Water gets recirculated to promote degredation and gas generation. The down side is more leachate, les surface and slope stability, since the waste shrinks as it decays.