Report Card for America's Infrastructure














SOLID WASTE

Conditions

Sanitary landfilling in the United States has made monumental strides in the last 20 years, moving from open dumps with little or no control to "state of the art" facilities with sophisticated containment systems, environmental monitoring, improved operational practices, and increased regulation. At the same time, more stringent regulations have caused landfill capacity to decline: between 1986 and 1996, the total number of landfills in the U.S. fell from 7,683 facilities to 3,581 - a capacity reduction of more than 50%.

In 2000, U.S. residents, businesses, and institutions produced more than 221 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW), which is approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day, up very slightly from the average 4.3 pounds generated per person per day in 1990. However, the amount of MSW sent to landfills in 2000 was down 13% from the 1990 total, and the amount of waste recovered in recycling has nearly doubled during the same period.

Since the mid-1980s, almost three-fourths of the nation's municipal landfills have closed because regulations governing land disposal have tightened. Most states, however, still have more than 10 years' landfill capacity remaining, with the greatest potential shortages projected for the Northeast where most states have less than five years' capacity on average.

Many land-disposal facilities have been replaced by waste-to-energy plants, which increased their capacity to manage waste tenfold during the 1980s and early 1990s, and now manage 17% of the nation's MSW.

However, the growth of waste-to-energy has itself now stalled due to increased costs and environmental concerns. In the last 10 years, recycling and composting have been the fastest growing methods of waste management, accounting for 28% of waste management in 1997; up from 10% in 1986.

Innovative ways of managing solid waste disposal need to be continually evaluated. One idea that has gained significant attention in the last several years is the "bioreactor landfill." A bioreactor landfill is a sanitary landfill that uses enhanced microbiological processes to transform and stabilize the readily and moderately decomposable organic waste constituents within five to ten years of bioreactor process implementation. The bioreactor landfill significantly increases the extent of organic waste decomposition, conversion rates, and process effectiveness over what would otherwise occur within the landfill.

Policy Options

The current domestic policy debate surrounding MSW focuses on the interstate shipment of waste.

Whether state and local governments should be given authority by the U.S. Congress to restrict the growing volume of out-of-state solid waste (the "interstate waste" issue) has been on the national environmental policy agenda for more than a decade. A related issue, whether state or local jurisdictions may designate where locally generated waste must be disposed ("flow control") also has become controversial. Congress has been unable to resolve either issue since the debate began in 1987.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) supports the continued use of landfills as a viable option for managing municipal solid waste (MSW), especially for solid waste streams which are not handled by other management techniques, such as recycling and incineration, or are the non-reusable by-products or residuals of these other techniques.

Specific recommendations supported by ASCE:

  • Emphasis should be given to integrated management of MSW. Continued development of improved landfill design and operating technology is paramount.
  • Increased federal funding of research into waste-to-energy programs.
  • The problem of overconsumption should be addressed, with the goal of reducing the production and consumption of unnecessary goods, packaging and throwaways. Toxic materials used in products and packaging and produced as byproducts in production processes should be minimized.

Sources

  • Congressional Research Service, Solid Waste Issues in the 106th Congress, April 27, 2000.
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, MSW Management, May 3, 2000.
  • Solid Waste Association of North America, The Bioreactor Landfill, 1999.
  • ASCE Policy Statement 383 "Municipal Solid Waste Combustion," 1999.
  • ASCE Policy Statement 371 "Municipal Solid Waste Landfills," 1999.
  • ASCE Policy Statement 372 "Recycling Municipal Solid Waste," 1999.