Eli5 Why exactly are landfills/ dumping grounds considered bad for health?

Question

I understand that they smell bad but what are some issues one might face working near a landfill (500meters)

Does it really impact health if someone has to spend 30hrs a week near a landfill?

Thanks in advance.

In: 7

Answer 1

They smell bad because of the various gases coming out of them. Things like Methane can be extremely toxic to people. In sufficient amounts these gases can even destroy buildings. And if thats what it does to a building, imagine what it could do to your body.

The other big problem is rain. If it rains, then the various gases and chemicals can filter down to the groundwater, contaminating it badly, and that could make everyone in the area sick if there’s enough of it.

Answer 2

People throw away all sorts of stuff, and some of that stuff may contain toxins that leech into the ground. Or birds sifting through the trash carry some of it outside the perimeter of the landfill. In either case, it’s possible for the nearby environment to be impacted, especially if the landfill doesn’t take proper measures to secure the site to mitigate leakage.

Answer 3

In addition to the seepage into ground water, unsightliness and smell….Large areas of trash heaped up over many years, dug deeper into the ground renders that land useless for decades. Decomposition simply cannot keep up with our amount of inorganic waste. You can’t grow anything/farm on top, you can’t build on top, you can’t allow animals to graze there for decades. Multiply this by the growing population and number of landfills we create everyday…..it is outpacing our ability to dispose of trash. Eventually, there will be more unusable land than fertile.

Solar panel farms are one idea to combat this….also, there is a lot of r&d actively trying to create organic compounds that can eat plastic and speed up the decomposition process…. I don’t know a lot about it, but it’s forward thinking and promising science. Recycling too off course would help reduce what goes to the landfills, but for whatever short sighted reasons, this seems to be out of fashion these days, at least in US.