Posted on 07/13/2004 7:43:36 AM PDT by crv16
Spot on. As the garbage decomposes, it generates methane gas which is narcotic, toxic and flammable. In Austin, TX, they had to condemn an apartment complex and put up a chain link fence around it because of this. The complex was built over an old landfill, and methane started oozing up from the ground. This caused a couple of flashover fires (puff of fire, kind of like when a little too much gas escapes before you get the heater lit, and was a real hazard to small children because of the narcotic and toxic effects.
We currently generate an incredible amount of garbage, especially when you consider than in the 1960's, when I was a kid, people bought a lot less stuff and all of the soft drink and milk bottles were hard thick glass and washed and reused. We buy a lot more pre-packaged items. We also double and triple package more now to make things tamper proof. It's a real problem, particularly in densely populated areas.
I haven't seen bricks, but they do make recycled plastic 'lumber' primarily for decking. It is about twice as expensive as wood, but it doesn't need to be sealed and lasts longer. Its a legitimate use, but only financially feasible because of the massive subsidies to recycling. Now they have mountains of plastic, and still can barely compete with lumber on price.
A "Forward this to your friends later" BUMP!
Yeah but your hazard insurance would sky rocket because your house could melt on a real hot day.
But there's NO shortage of landfill land, whatsoever...a mythology that began with the "garbage barge" in the 80s that wasn't allowed to dock anywhere.
I'm glad recycling is on the decline. It is nothing more than one of the "sacrements" of the secular religion that has been foisted on us at the detriment of Christianity.
There was a post yesterday about "longwall" mining, in which seams of coal are removed and the ground above subsequently collapses when supporting columns are removed. It seems to me that packing the voids with compacted recyclables and miscellaneous debris would prevent the collapse and remove the major objection to this kind of mining.
The post I mentioned I saw yesterday, posted by Willie Green; link here, if it works:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1168397/posts
Milk bottles were sent back to the dairy to be used for the thousandth time, soda and beer bottles were returnd to their respective brewerys to be filled again and soap came in boxes.
Leafy garbage and eggshells went to the compost heap, bones and meat went to the dog, other junk was stored for the ragman and the rest was burned once a week in a 55 gallon drum in the backyard.
Very little was picked up at the curb and maybe one trash can a week went to the landfill.
Depends on the situation. Here in Merrimack, the landfill is full, so the trash has to be hauled to a more distant landfill at some per-pound rate. They divert significant quantities of paper, plastic, glass, steel, and aluminum from having to add to the weight of material that they have to pay to haul, instead selling it to interested buyers such as asphalt plants (glass), blanket manufacturers (plastic), and so on.
There is also no town-funded pickup service, you either hire a private hauler or bring it to the facility yourself.
Scrap yards can work well recycling, but municipal landfills do not. Those who want to recycle and make a few extra pennies a week can do so, but those who are required to do this and that won't take the time. Scrap steel, scrap aluminum, still worth something even after shipping if you have enough of it--even from Alaska.
First I need for you to tell me how many people live on reclaimed dump sites.
As for the "forseeable" future, I do keep in mind that I have children who, God willing, will one day have children of their own who, God wiling, will have children of their own, etc. I don't see the population of the US shrinking drastically in the forseeable future, if it declines at all. More people, more trash. More landfills, less land available for living. So what if I recycle? Its not like I'm doing a bad thing, and I'm not wagging my finger at those who choose not to recycle. But I don't for a second believe that landfills can be safely reclaimed.
As for unwanted babies and mobsters, they are dead, or soon dead, once they hit the dumpster or landfill. They didn't die from living there and nobody claimed that they did. I bet their life expectancy would be drastically reduced, however, if that's where they were living.
Like Penn and Teller said on their Showtime show (Bull***t!), it's all about control, and people telling others what to do.
Garbage also generates a tremendous amount of heat as it decomposes. This past winter I forgot to set my dumpster out one week. Midway into the second week, there was steam coming out of it. The steam was so thick I actually thought the dumpster was on fire. We had to leave the lid open until the next trash pick-up day. The squirrels and raccoons had a very good week.
It happens quite often. The major precautions involve methane detection/venting and foundation design which accounts for settling.
Suitable for living? I'll err on the side of caution. If I were offered the 10,000 square foot home of my dreams, free of charge, but it happened to be on a reclaimed dumpsite, I wouldn't budge. Not for a second.
So would most people. Commercial or retail use is much more likely.
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