What is Waste Management? Waste management is a series of practice’s that community’s use to managed waste (or garbage) that is generated by residents, businesses and industry. Waste management is high on the list of environmental concerns for the general public because of the threats mismanagement can pose to our health and the environment. In Niagara County, we don’t have to look too far to find issues and discussions related to waste management.
When the environmental movement took place in the United States during the 1970’s, the dangers of historical waste management practices were exposed and greater environmental awareness came to the forefront. A changing perspective to waste management evolved into a series of techniques that sought to minimize the harmful impacts of garbage that was landfilled or incinerated; and in turn begin to conserve and recycle waste. What emerged was a waste management hierarchy that favored source reduction, reuse, and recycling before disposal by incineration and landfilling. Inevitably some wastes will require disposal, so there are laws in place that set standards for how landfills and incinerators are designed and operated. To learn more about how landfills are designed to prevent leaking click here.
Source Reduction: The most favorable option when it comes to waste management is source reduction. Simply put, source reduction means to use less or use none at all. Source reduction can be pretty straightforward, like using more durable items like cloth napkins, washable plates, reusable tote bags and travel mugs instead of non-durable materials like paper napkins and plates, plastic bags and disposable (paper or Styrofoam) cups.
Source reduction can be pretty complex too, such as changing how things are made to create less waste and using less toxic materials during production. This is because of a process called “light-weighting” that is used by bottle manufactures to reduce the amount plastic used to conserve resources. That too is source reduction! Source reduction has the ability to make a dramatic impact on the solid waste stream by helping to eliminate the toxicity found in common items and reducing disposal. The bonus about source reduction at homes and businesses is that you don’t have to pay for it. If you don’t throw away what you are not using…IT DOESN’T COST A DIME!
This website will always have some good ideas about how to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Check back or e-mail us at recycling@niagaracounty.com if you have any questions or want to make a comment about source reduction.
Reuse: After Source Reduction, the next best option is to reuse waste. The concept behind REUSE is to make decisions about purchasing durable materials that we can keep using over and over. If we can reuse as many common daily items as possible, we will cut down on having to buy replacement items and reduce waste. Often times items that you may want to get rid of may still be useable for someone else. Locally there are many organizations that may accept these items such as Community Missions, Goodwill, Salvation Army and AmVETS who collect and redistribute to people who want them.
After you have exhausted all your source reduction and reuse options, the next best idea is to RECYCLE! Recycling is so important that it has its own page (recycling).Where does our garbage go?
Each week residents in Niagara County can place their garbage at their curb for collection. Once it is collected, it is either transported to a landfill, incinerator or transfer station. Trash from businesses, schools, and industries in dumpsters is also collected and taken to the same facilities. A transfer station is a facility that consolidates waste into larger trucks (tractor trailers) that can transport the waste a long distance at lower costs. Waste can also arrive to a landfill by rail if there are railroad lines close by.
Regardless of how it gets there, the waste is weighed, documented and then dumped into an active cell at the landfill. Each truck dumps the waste in an assigned location where it is spread thin and compacted by bulldozers. At the end of each workday a layer of soil, called daily cover, is applied over the waste to keep out vermin and flies and eliminate odors and blowing debris. This process is repeated until the active cell is full and the landfill reaches full capacity and is closed.
Once closed, landfills continue to produce landfill gases and leachate, which are required to be constantly monitored. Landfill gasses are created when the organic waste (food waste and yard debris) in the landfill begins to decompose. Landfill gas is predominantly methane, which is an extremely potent greenhouse gas and a major contributor to global climate change. In many cases, landfill gas is collected and used as fuel to create electricity. In Niagara County, Modern Landfill in Lewiston collects landfill gas from its closed cells and uses the methane to create heat and energy to harvest tomatoes in an onsite hydroponic greenhouse!
Landfill Leachate is created from the percolation of water through all the waste in a landfill. The liquid is from rainfall, moisture, from liquids deposited in the landfill and from the by-products of decomposition. How much is created is dependent on many factors, but it is very important that the leachate is collected and treated prior to being discharged off site. If leachate leaves a landfill area it may pose a threat to groundwater and other water sources.
There are currently two (2) operating sanitary landfills in Niagara County. Modern Landfill is a 232-acre landfill in the town of Lewiston, which accepts 816,000 tons of solid waste per year at a maximum rate of 2,636 tons per day. The second facility is Allied Waste Services (AWS) located in the town of Niagara. The AWS landfill is a series of 6 separate landfills, 4 of which are closed, that accepts 660,000 tons of municipal solid waste per year. This facility is only permitted to receive non-putrescible (non-food related) wastes to avoid attracting birds in close proximity to the local Air Force base and Airport. Both landfills can be found on map by clicking here.
Depending on where you live in Niagara County, your waste may be incinerated instead of landfilled (click here to find out if your waste is incinerated at Covanta Niagara or landfilled at Modern). When waste is incinerated it is burned in a controlled manner that results in two by-products; mixed gases and an ash residue. Often these facilities are designed for recovery of energy to create electricity, which makes it more preferable when compared to landfilling.
If waste in your community is incinerated, it is still collected the same way at the curb and arrives by truck or rail to the incinerator. Once there, the waste is dumped onto a tipping floor and then moved by heavy equipment to a receiving pit or sometimes placed into a hopper. Once in the pit or hopper, the waste is moved onto a rolling grate that will carry it into the combustion chamber to be incinerated. After the combustion process is complete, the heavier ash falls into a collection pit and the lighter flue gasses rise.
An Energy-from-Waste (EFW) facility is capable of converting the heat from the flue gasses into electricity. After the flue gases are released from the combustion chamber they pass through a heat recovery phase. In this phase, a series of boiler tubes are arranged that heat water in the tubes and convert it to steam that is used to generate electricity. Covanta Niagara in Niagara Falls is an Energy-from-Waste facility, incinerating nearly 800,000 tons of refuse per year and generating over 267,000 MWh of electricity or enough energy to power 30,000 homes per year.
Once the ash cools it has to go somewhere too. The ash from Covanta’s process is transported to Modern landfill or to Allied Waste Systems landfill for use as daily cover. Instead of using soil like materials to cover trash that was landfilled, incinerator ash is substituted as a beneficial reuse.
Click here to view a map of Niagara County Waste Management facilities.
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