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Again, you don't seem to understand how a landfill works. Waste materials aren't expected to decompose in a landfill, they are compacted and then covered (usual
by ucaetano 9y ago
Again, you don't seem to understand how a landfill works. Waste materials aren't expected to decompose in a landfill, they are compacted and then covered (usually daily) to form a solid, stable, ground (that's why they are called "landfill", and not just "a gigantic pile of rubbish").
Neither the chalk nor the plastic will decompose. And that's intentional.
So one cubic meter of chalk will have the same impact on a landfill as one cubic meter of plastic.
- bsder 9y agoLandfills are quite far from inert and require active systems to mitigate the result: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leachate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leachate
- ucaetano 9y agoIndeed, but that's undesired; ideally, they should be as inert as possible. The last thing you want is a landfill collapsing after it was covered and transformed into a park. Often, waterproof polymer liners are used to surround the thrash and prevent water from seeping in and out.
- distances 9y agoI'm sure this differs from region to region. I'm from a small town that had one landfill site that was in use since decades, and will likely be the only landfill for the town until it runs out of people. For sure quite a bit more low-tech than any metropolis landfill.
- ucaetano 9y agoA single landfill can have dozens or hundreds of blocks, which are covered and sealed when they become full. So a single landfill can operate for decades while still packing trash into compact blocks.