Eli5: how do landfills work?

Question

Is the trash really just buried and left to decompose?

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

It is often sorted first to extract ferrous metals and aluminium, before it is buried the contents are crushed to take up a small a volume as possible and the hole is lined to prevent leaks into the environment and especially the water table. Some then have a gas pipe to vent off any methane produced.