Landfill

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires all new landfills to include a leachate collection system. Recirculation of leachate accelerates the decomposition of solid waste. Another alternative use of landfills is to capture the methane gas produced during decomposition to generate electricity. For example, in Yolo County, California, a landfill releases 1.4 million cubic feet of gas a day used to generate electricity.

Landfill mining is another process that is used to reclaim the materials of the landfill for other purposes. More than 65% of the product from a landfill is usable soil. Small percentages of other materials, such as rock, metal, wood, aluminum, glass, plastic, polystyrene, and other items, can also be extracted from a landfill that is ready to be closed. The soil can be used as daily cover at other landfills and for grading roads and other construction projects. This process can only take place in landfills that are free of toxic wastes. Other landfill mining projects use the material to turn waste into energy.

Another alternative to landfill disposal for many areas has been the incineration of solid wastes. This method is often criticized because it has the potential of polluting the air, and the residual ash still has to be buried in a secure landfill. Dumping in the ocean has also come under attack by environmentalists who cite pollution of marine ecosystems and destruction of recreational beaches as reasons against ocean dumping.