landfill site

Large holes in the ground used for dumping household and commercial waste. Landfill disposal has been the preferred option in the UK and the USA for many years, with up to 85% of household waste being dumped in this fashion. However, the sites can be dangerous, releasing toxins and other leachates (see leaching) into the soil and the policy is itself wasteful both in terms of the materials dumped and land usage.

Decomposing organic matter releases methane, which can be explosive, although many sites collect the gas and burn it for energy. Many of the items found in landfill sites, for instance bottles, tins and cans, will remain intact for hundreds of years, and would be better re-used or recycled.

A 1990 Canadian study used a plasma torch to reduce landfill rubbish. At the high temperatures used rubbish does not burn, it dissociates in a process called pyrolysis. The rubbish mass was reduced by 80%, and its volume by 99%.