The Effects of Garbage Dumps

It may seem that when you take your trash out to the curb once a week, it goes away and no longer poses a problem. However, your garbage goes to a landfill, which may be a depression below the ground or above the ground, like a stadium, where the trash is piled between earth and stored to decompose if the material is biodegradable. Despite the fact that landfills have engineered protections, such as composite liners and leakage collection systems, these systems are still faulty, allowing gases and harmful toxins into the air and water.

Greenhouse Gases

• As trash sits and decomposes, the decomposing matter releases gases like methane and carbon dioxide. Methane is a greenhouse gas and 70 more times effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases are vital to keeping Earth's atmosphere intact, but too many greenhouse gases raise the global temperature. The Stanford Solar Center reports that as of 2006, the temperature has risen between .5 and 1 degrees Fahrenheit -- the largest increase in global temperature in 1,000 years. It's estimated to increase by 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the 21st century.

Leachate

• Material in landfills forms leachate, a toxic liquid that can seep into streams, rivers and underground water supply when it comes in contact with rain in the soil. Materials like heavy metals, bacteria, pesticides, volatile organic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons and dissolved salts can show up in ground water. Contaminated ground water can cause vomiting, nausea, skin problems and fatal illnesses like cancer, especially to citizens living nearest the landfills. Children are more susceptible to these effects, since their immune systems are not as strong as adults'.

Incinerator Effects

• Landfills that use incinerators release harmful pollutants into the air. The burning itself produces smog, releasing harmful toxins from plastics and materials with chemicals, such as mercury, sulfuric acid, cadmium and hydrogen chloride. These chemicals can affect plants, animals and humans by air and in incinerator ash, which may be used to cover trash in the landfill, adding to the harmful leachate that seeps into water supplies.

Dealing with Landfills

• With all the harmful effects garbage dumps pose to the environment, methods are being introduced to counterbalance those effects. Cities and counties are initiating curbside recycling programs to keep items like glass, paper, plastics and metals from landfills. Electronics and clothing recycling programs are also gaining popularity. In 2011, the USDA and EPA initiated a pilot program for alternative ways to cap landfills with soil, compost and vegetation instead of the traditional clay. This reduces methane emissions and prevents rainwater from reaching the harmful toxins in landfills.