Your Landfill or Mine?

High oil prices earlier this year had people thinking about the resources in landfills (all that plastic that could be turned into fuel).

Old landfills contain metals, too. In fact, the concentration of aluminum in many landfills is higher than their concentration in bauxite ore (Wikipedia).

Landfill mining has been around as a concept for many years. The Tel Aviv landfill was mined and used for soil amendment in citrus groves in 1953. The technology hasn't changed significantly since then: you need digging, screening and sorting equipment and, of course, magnets are really handy to recover the ferrous metals.

Most landfill mining operations have had multiple goals: recover recyclables, generate usable landfill cover, and reduce landfill space. The feasibility will depend on what's in the old landfill, recycling prices, and the value of landfill space at the time.

Much better, of course, would be to apply those magnets BEFORE the loads reach the landfill.

(Source: WasteWatch, November 2008)

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