What you Should Know About Landfills and Junk Removal – York PA

A whopping 267.8 million tons of waste are created in the United States every year, with 55 percent finding its way into a landfill. Landfills are basically a hole in the ground that gets filled with a mixture of our household and commercial junk and waste. 

Landfills are important as they allow junk removal companies to dispose of their garbage easily and relatively cheap. This method of waste management means that the garbage is contained in one area, ensuring that the mountains of junk we generate are not dumped randomly. 

Landfills for Junk Removal – Problematic or Beneficial

Our local authorities try to keep the amount and type of junk that lands up in landfills under control. Responsible trash removal companies follow the rules which help minimize the resultant pollution.

Below are some of the problems of landfills:

• Landfills will eventually run out of space for containing the garbage that is dumped into them. It is not easy to begin a new landfill because of the regulations relating to the protection of our environment, and landfills can ruin a location.
• The different types of waste that are disposed of in a landfill can present a danger to humans as well as causing the degradation of the immediate environment. This is why most people will object strongly to a landfill starting anywhere near them.

The benefits of a landfill:

• Landfills are one of the most cost-effective ways of dealing with rubbish, even though tipping fees for using them are rising.
• Landfills are a good alternative to sending tons of our garbage either into our oceans or into our environment.

Landfills – Their Effect on the Environment and Junk Removal York PA

The problems landfills present go further than being aesthetically unsightly. The huge amount of waste on show is definitely not a pretty sight. The principal of a landfill is that they contain trash until it degrades and disappears. This works well for garbage that decomposes fast. But unfortunately, most of the garbage that finds its way into our landfills either decomposes slowly or sometimes never at all. This is where the many economic, health, and environmental problems with landfills begin. 

• Garbage consisting of mixed materials disposed of into a landfill will decompose and form toxic chemicals. These chemicals mix with water from rain and form leachate. This leachate is toxic, and can contaminate groundwater and the surrounding soil.
• Organic materials should by their nature decompose quickly, but because materials are piled on top of each other, they are deprived of the oxygen that would allow them to. The methane gas that is released in this anaerobic process is a greenhouse gas that is 28x more potent than carbon dioxide.
• This methane gas finds its way into the atmosphere and forms a layer that does not allow heat to escape the earth. This is known as the greenhouse effect and is one of the main contributors to the climate change crisis known as global warming. Global warming has had a negative effect on global weather conditions, causing floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme storms. 
  

These toxins in the leachate that seep into the air, soil, and groundwater create pollution that impacts on the lives of people living near landfills.

E-waste such as computers, TV’s and even batteries, find their way into our landfills and leach toxic substances such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, and other chemicals that are harmful to humans. Mercury, a dangerous toxin that can also come from discarded fluorescent lights amongst other sources, is found in our landfills as well.  

Landfills – What Waste is Accepted

The following types of waste are accepted by landfills:

• Household trash from house cleanouts
• Yard waste
• Construction, demolition, and renovation waste including concrete and tarmac. This type of waste is sometimes used as a layer over the top of organic waste.
• Broken furniture and other items from home cleanouts

The following are accepted for recycling or must be dumped in special areas of the landfill. 

• Old appliances (without refrigerants and other gases)
• Electronic waste from office cleanouts or home cleanouts.
• Roofing and metal scraps
• Old tires

The above types of trash contain materials that are potentially toxic to the environment and ideally they should be recycled. At Little Green Junk York, we recycle as many materials as possible to keep them out of our landfill. These all contain materials that can be repurposed and reused again in the manufacturing process.

The following materials are toxic and should not find their way into landfills.

• Hazardous waste including medical waste
• Asbestos
• Chemicals including fuels, oils, cleaners, bleach, pesticides, refrigerants, acids, and paints.
• Explosives
• Auto body waste
• Contaminated soil
• Anything containing heavy metals such as mercury.

These toxic materials are potentially dangerous to our air, water, and soil quality. After all, who wants any of these chemicals present in our fresh foods? Specialized processes are required to ensure that they pose no danger to our environment when they are disposed of. 

Landfills – Alternative Waste Disposal and Junk Removal Procedures, York PA

Many of the materials that are currently disposed of in landfills could be successfully

• Recycled
• Composted
• Reused

The goal of completely eliminating waste or reaching zero waste is not realistically achievable, but waste prevention which requires us to reduce consumption and wastage is a doable waste management option.  

Recycling and composting as much as possible is also a way we can live a cleaner, greener life and at the same time reducing the release of greenhouse gases. Recycling saves energy by avoiding the use of raw materials when a new product is manufactured, and recycled materials are used instead.  

Little Green Junk York PA offers trash removal services in the York, Lancaster, and Harrisburg area. We are your local junk haulers, licensed by the local authorities, and we promise to dispose of your waste in a responsible manner. We recycle what we can, so diverting as much trash as possible from the landfill, which we only use as a last resort. We are committed to preserving our environment as much as you are.

We can remove your unwanted junk after hours or on a weekend, and we even offer same day junk removal if that suits you in York PA and surrounding areas.

Please contact us at inquiries@littlegreenjunk.com as we look forward to giving you a free, no obligation quote for any trash you need to dispose of and junk removal York PA and surrounding areas. We look forward to your call on 717 467 0070.

www.littlegreenjunk.com