MAURICIO SOSA

Textually:TOXICS ACTION CENTERThe waste industry itself is a commercial business. Large corporations like Casella Waste Industries and Waste Management dominate all aspects of the market and benefit from operating landfills and incinerators, along with recycling facilities. Since the waste management facilities have become big businesses, the corporate need to make a profit outweighs the community’s need reduce waste and to protect health and the environment from potentially destructive waste management practices. In fact, even if a community designed and implemented a zero waste program in their own town, they would not be able to prevent waste from other municipalities or states from coming into a commercial facility in their borders.In spite of local objections, government officials continue to work hand in hand with waste industry officials to permit massive expansions to landfills, increase waste tonnage in incineration, and develop new facilities-like trash transfer stations-to increase their profits. Governments are so pressured to find places to dispose waste that they devote very few resources to developing functional programs for recycling, and instead rely on short-sighted, quick-fix solutions. As a result, we have become reliant upon dying technologies to deal with waste. We are less creative and committed to developing new technologies to reduce waste and devoting resources to these programs. Problems with solid waste regulation include a lack of enforcement of environmental regulations at solid waste facilities by federal and state officials and a tendency of approving expansions once an initial permit has been granted. Furthermore, state and federal officials devote few resources to new solid waste programs that would reduce volume and toxicity of waste or increase recycling. Landfills: The EPA says that all landfills eventually leak, so claims that “state of the art technology,” will protect our groundwater and our communities by waste industry representatives are never true. In addition to threats to groundwater, landfills give off potentially harmful gases, and odors will often permeate the neighborhoods. Some studies show that birth defects increase in communities surrounding landfills. Landfills are often classified by the type of waste they can accept: Municipal waste, medical waste, special waste, or hazardous waste landfills are four common types. Because even our household waste contains toxic chemicals, it is not significantly safer to live near a municipal or special waste landfill than one that accepts more toxic waste. The types of waste accepted at any particular facility are not regulated or monitored adequately by state agencies, therefore the companies often have broad discretion regarding what waste is deposited in the landfill even if the law specifies otherwise. One particular concern with landfills is the post-closure period, in which many facilities are used as base for athletic fields, playground, parking lots or other facilities after their active period is over. Post-closure uses such as this can lead to cracks in the cover, and subsequent leakage.