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But there are many such island nations and the consequences are global - In England and Wales, for example, there are at least 1700 coastal landfills in the coa
by FooHentai 6y ago
But there are many such island nations and the consequences are global - In England and Wales, for example, there are at least 1700 coastal landfills in the coastal flood plain and at least 60 threatened by erosion ( Coastal Landfills, Rising Sea Levels and Shoreline Management: A Challenge for the 21st Century - Nicholls, 2019). Last year a landfill on the south west coast of NZ busted open due to unprecedented high rainfall, sending hundreds of tonnes of waste matter down the Fox river and out to sea. Inthat region alone another 12 historic landfill sites are at risk, and remediation for the already-busted one to ensure no further spillage is a multi-million-dollar project that the region can't afford.
It's not just island nations either - A great portion of humanity lives close to a coastline and waste is generally interred in proximity to where consumption occurs. Physical damage is not the only consideration - Any situation that prompts power interruption, water damage, or reduced access to the site puts a landfill site at risk of incident. In the US the EPA considers there to be significant risk of these events and has had it in their sights for at least a decade: https://semspub.epa.gov/work/11/175853.pdf https://semspub.epa.gov/work/11/175853.pdf
Assuming that sea level rise is just a matter of adjusting the shoreline in accordance with topography is also a huge mistake - Erosion increases rate and begins occurring in places it didn't previously. Storm surges and king tides bring surge water to higher points that ever before, and intrusion of saltwater into landfills poses far higher risk of leaching than rain, river, or aquifer.
The underlying problem is a changing risk management landscape - A decision to site a landfill on a once-in-300-years flood site may be taken, but when that assessment is later revised to once-in-100 years, you're faced with either rolling the dice each year or pulling funding out of your ass to relocate. Repeat the gamble at a global scale at many thousands of sites, the overall odds look very bleak.
- bigbubba 6y agoThis is a problem for some extant landfills, but not the premise of landfills themselves. Most nations do not have a shortage of land a long way away from and above the ocean.