Landfills have been around and used for many years. There are landfills that have been around since 1950’s and landfills can have an expectancy of 30-50 years (synonym). Landfills have their pro’s and cons. While the cons seemingly outweigh the cons, they are still present. For example, landfills help with county waste management costs. Counties that control their own waste and landfill management can save “roughly $2 million” (The Courier-Tribune) instead of sending solid waste out of the county. These economic pros are not related to environmental issues, and this is where the cons come into play. While landfills are meant to help the environment around areas in which large amounts of trash are produced, they cause environmental issues where they are located due the the vast amount of trash that is accumulated there.
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From all this trash, there are “ten toxic gases released” (WeGreen-USA), with the worst being carbon dioxide emissions and methane. As the trash begins to decompose and is exposed to the sun and weather, they release an abundant amount of gas emissions that are not really helpful to the air and the environment around the landfill areas. These gas emissions can affect both plants and animals that try to live near these landfills. Also according to WeGreen-USA, landfills pollute the groundwater which releases “toxins into fresh water waterways.” Trash production, especially in the plastic category, has become such a largely noticed issue, that states and counties have taken action in order to help reduce the production of plastic waste. Different states took different actions, whether it be imposing a tax in order to help the environment like District of Columbia who implemented a five cent fee in order to help keep the Anacostia River clean and healthy, or like Hawaii who issued a statewide ban on plastic bags (Surfrider
From all this trash, there are “ten toxic gases released” (WeGreen-USA), with the worst being carbon dioxide emissions and methane. As the trash begins to decompose and is exposed to the sun and weather, they release an abundant amount of gas emissions that are not really helpful to the air and the environment around the landfill areas. These gas emissions can affect both plants and animals that try to live near these landfills. Also according to WeGreen-USA, landfills pollute the groundwater which releases “toxins into fresh water waterways.” Trash production, especially in the plastic category, has become such a largely noticed issue, that states and counties have taken action in order to help reduce the production of plastic waste. Different states took different actions, whether it be imposing a tax in order to help the environment like District of Columbia who implemented a five cent fee in order to help keep the Anacostia River clean and healthy, or like Hawaii who issued a statewide ban on plastic bags (Surfrider