Turning Trash Into Treasure

Benny Son
Imagine living next to a landfill, smelling and getting frustrated by the gaseous chemical emitted by the wastes. There are so many landfills that are continuously increasing in size, affecting the standard of living for numerous residents. Have you ever been to Carrollton Texas where you experienced that weird and funky smell? Yeah.. that's from the landfills.


However, thankfully, there are some countries who have figured out the way to utilize the landfills and make a complete turnaround. South Korea is a great example of it. In South Korea, Seoul, there is a renowned park called, Hanuel Park, that plays a significant role in providing comfort and joy to the Korean citizens. It allows visitors to experience and communicate with nature as it is heavily packed with plants. Would you be surprised if this beautiful park was, in the past, just another pile of trash?


In the earlier time, Nanjido used to be a place where nature was preserved, however, in March 1978, Nanjido was changed into a garbage dumping site for the city of Seoul, capital of South. The Korean government did not employ any modern landfill techniques to treat the gas and leachate generated by landfills. The dump site was used for 15 years without even covering the garbage with soil. However after being selected as a World Cup host in 2002, this problem became apparent, and they decided to fix this problem by transforming the trash mountain into an eco-friendly park.


In the process of making, to remove the foul odors and dangers of explosion due to landfill gas, the upper part of the dump site was covered with a blocking layer consisting of soil and a shielding sheet. The 106 landfill gas collection wells were installed on the upper part and sides of the landfill to extract landfill gas from waste heaps, and collected landfill gas was transferred to the treatment facility through a 14,050m-long gas pipe. Landfill gas was used as fuel for a regional heating system and remaining gas was incinerated in the gas stack.


Eventually, this landfill site that once was the major problem in the city, became a feather in the city's cap. The discovering of the problem and putting an abundance effort into fixing this situation has allowed them to recover the environment to where it began.

Considering this, what are the things that the government can do in the U.S. in regards to landfills?
What are some things that WE could do individually to stop the increase of landfills?
What are some environmental impacts of increasing landfills?

Sources :
https://www.seoulsolution.kr/en/content/landfill-recovery-project-transformation-landfill-ecological-park
https://www.guardian.co.tt/business/transforming-landfill-eco-park-6.2.441631.c477cd128b
https://www.metropolis.org/sites/default/files/seoul_environemntenglish.pdf

Comments

Anonymous said…
I have noticed the exact same problem in the landfill located closest to us, in the city of Lewisville. Whenever I get onto the highway near the landfill, although the highway is a good distance away, the inside of my car will smell disgusting, and I immediately start blasting the A/C. Furthermore, I notice that builders built large apartment complexes right next to the landfills. I believe that here in the United States, we can definitely turn this landfill problem around, because we have the money and resources to do it. Being a highly developed nation, we have the resources necessary to turn this problem around, however I have not seen any important or notable legislation passed regarding this problem. Environmentally, chemicals from landfills can eventually seep into our groundwater, and we need to stop producing so much waste in order to combat it. Using food waste as compost in your backyard can be a simple way to help, as well as sinmply spreading awareness about the issue.
April 12, 2019 at 11:20 AM
Anonymous said…
I think the concept of turning a dump site into a park sounds impossible, but clearly it has been done. It seems like a great alternative to just dumping trash into landfills and leaving it. Most likely, the U.S. government will not make landfills into parks, but it may be able to remove the landfill gases that you mentioned. By using wells to extract landfill gas and send them to waste treatment facilities, we may be able to reduce the “funky” smell in places like Carrollton. Of course, one of the ways we can reduce what ends up in landfills is reusing. Something as simple as reusing plastic bags for grocery can help reduce trash that goes to landfills. Another alternative is recycling, which increases the life of items like paper and cardboard. Increasing landfills, as we now know, creates more methane gas, which is a greenhouse gas, which contributes to increasing surface temperatures. Reducing our reliance on landfills can help alleviate increasing surface temperatures.
April 12, 2019 at 11:25 AM
Anonymous said…
I think that what they are doing in Seoul is a very good solution to the issue of landfills. Once landfills get so full that they cant be used any more, they should be turned into s place for plants and a place that can be enjoyed by American citizens. I think that as politics in America move farther left, people will call for an improvement in the way we handle our environment and this is a great solution for landfills. However, to starts at the base of the problem, we can wok on landfills by using out three Rs! Reduce what we use, Reuse the things we can (and get creative). And recycle as much as we can. taking steps like this will be enormous in the number of landfills we have to fill up. But it cannot just be one person. We all need to work together to reduce our trash so that we can make a real impact.
April 15, 2019 at 10:33 AM
Anonymous said…
I love the idea of turning land fills into parks. Landfills are not only gross, but they arent good for the environment. So much of that trash could be used instead as nutrients for plants and soil. My family likes to take organic waste and turn it into a composite in our back yard. I think if we were able to do this on a much larger scale, we could reduce the fowl odor that comes from landfills and turn it into a much more productive compost plant.
April 15, 2019 at 10:34 AM
Anonymous said…
I don’t think that we will make landfills into parks. Just like how Arun and Anshiul said, the smell will deter many people from even coming close. Imagine right now, the smell of anything remotely close to garbage makes people want to run the other way, so imagine when they unveil this new park with possible remnants of that same smell. Now of course there is ideas being used to siphon the smell by extracting the landfill gas,however, that costs money and although we have the money, we don’t have the incentive like South Korea did with their soon World Cup in 2002 happening. A way we can lessen the ampount of waste is to possibly do more recycling methods instead of haphazardly throwing recyclables like plastic bags, we can reuse it or recycle it correctly. Along with making more compost bins because there’s so much compost material potential in landfills everyday.
April 15, 2019 at 10:40 AM
Anonymous said…
I think making parks out of landfills is a great idea but I don’t think the U.S. will spend the time or money to do this. Seoul made a great solution to the problem but I think that they may be the only city to do this; at least for a long time. The political climate in the U.S. isnt stable enough (in my opinion) to get behind this idea and make a national effort to spend money and the time to fix these landfills. We have the money and resources to do it but I don’t think we will put forth the effort to do so. I think before we get to this point, we need to reduce our reliance on landfills and find a way to be more environmentally friendly.
April 15, 2019 at 10:52 AM
Anonymous said…
A step we ourselves could take is reducing the garbage we throw away by buying more biodegradable goods, install trash compactors have gardens, have compost bens. Know how to properly despose medication, and other chemicals. Be councious of what you are buying and avoid plastics as much as possible, support farmers markets. By reducing the bery garbage we make will reduce the garbage being sent to the landfills.
April 15, 2019 at 11:01 AM
Anonymous said…
Landfills continue to grow at an alarming rate, and we aren’t doing much to help slow this down. Individually, we should try to live a life close to a zero-waste lifestyle. This might mean changes to your daily life, but it is really not that difficult once you get started. This should help reduce the amount of garbage going into landfills in the first place. To transform existing landfills, turning it into a park and nature preserve is an amazing idea. It is literally taking a dangerous, toxic place and turning it completely around into something beneficial for the environment. I think all countries should try to implement some form of this idea to help combat climate change and ever growing landfills.
April 15, 2019 at 3:38 PM
Anonymous said…
I believe that landfills can be changed and it’s not too late— yet. Seoul's approach on making a park out of what was once trashed is very admirable. I think if the United States tried hard enough and spent some of our money on reducing landfills we could achieve this too. It takes serious drive and motivation to do so, and Seoul's motivation towards this was hosting the World Cup in 2002. Living next to a landfill seems terrible, and I could never live around that area. It is of urgent need now to have less landfills because we can’t just continue living adding on and on. The trash in the landfills could be used to also spurt plant growth if it isn’t already hazardous.
April 16, 2019 at 11:50 AM
Anonymous said…
Anytime I go to Carrollton, I see the huge landfill and am grossed out by it. It seems ridiculous that the US is one of the top trash producers and also one of the most technologically developed nations, but we haven’t changed how landfills work. There are many environmentalists and scientists that would work with the government to come up with a better and safer solution. I like South Korea’s idea to make it into a park.
April 17, 2019 at 8:03 AM
Anonymous said…
The environmental impacts of landfills are extremely apperant. Recently, there has been complaints made in Carrollton from surrounding residents regarding the smell that the landfill emites. It has reached the point that even as you are driving, the stink from the pile of garbage is detectable from inside your car. Landfills are a short term solution to the problem of trash made thousands of years ago. They do not solve the problem of what to do with trash, but rather has a harmful impact on the enviornment. The U.S government should adopt the efforts made by South Korea as well as offer incentives for biodegradable trash. Additionally, as citizens we should become more aware of what we are throwing away and see if we can reuse products rather than discarding them.
April 17, 2019 at 9:40 AM
Anonymous said…
Whenever I think of landfills, I think of the gigantic landfill in Lewisville that just smells and reeks every time you pass it. Definentally a time when I turn inside air on for my car! The US should be researching more ways to turn trash into “treasure” because if we continue on this path of consumerism, we will have no place left to put our trash. We might as well become raccoons right? Wrong. We shouldn’t have to live that way, and there should be more efforts put in by the government.
April 17, 2019 at 10:58 AM
Anonymous said…
Landfill sites are pretty ugly. And it's not just the sight of increasing piles of waste that's the problem. There are many negative issues associated with landfill. The three most important problems with landfill are toxins, leachate and greenhouse gases. We need to find better ways to store the waste.
April 17, 2019 at 6:58 PM
Anonymous said…
Landfills are very problematic but are necessary in the world we are in. These landfills have many environmental impacts. For example, the landfill could degrade human health and the ecosystem because of the greenhouse gases it contains, such as methane and carbon dioxide. And, no matter what we do, these landfill will increase. However, we can try to slow down the increase of the landfills by planning ahead by employing modern landfill techniques to treat the gas and leachate generated by landfills.
April 17, 2019 at 7:47 PM
Anonymous said…
The idea sounds good, but I think people will be resistant to visit a landfill park. Also, I'm not sure the US will be willing to spend the kind of money that South Korea spent on transforming their landfill into a park. Landfills may be ugly and gross, but they do serve an effective purpose in storing waste. However, I think that we can reduce our reliance on landfills by using better waste disposal techniques. If we start composting, and recycling, the amount of waste entering landfills will decrease. Reducing our reliance of landfills will benefit us because landfills can have significant negative effects on the environment.
April 17, 2019 at 9:16 PM
Anonymous said…
After seeing this, I believe that all it takes is a little bit of effort from the local government to fix a problem. As long as they are made aware, and have their influencers pushing them to fix the problem they will. Thus, I believe that as a community we must join up together and petition in order to have any sort of governmental support in cleaning up trash.
April 18, 2019 at 11:50 AM
Anonymous said…
I feel like this is a great way to revert some of the damage we have done through landfills. It is creative, unique, and makes it appear as if no trash had ever been dumped in the first place. As others have mentioned, not only are landfills environmentally damaging, they are also unattractive, decreasing the value of locations near them. While what Korea is doing is a great way to fix current landfills, there are also precautions that can be taken to reduce the size of future ones. The most obvious is for the individual to produce less waste. This can be done by reducing waste, reusing things more than once, and recycling what can be. If we all do our part in reducing waste, and the government takes action to reform current landfills, their detrimental environmental effects can be controlled.
April 18, 2019 at 6:17 PM
Anonymous said…
Another thing to do with capped landfills is to convert them into wildlife habitats. Ex-landfills can become the home to birds and other animals. As for reducing the growth of current landfills, when I hear the word "landfill", I think of plastic bottles. Obviously, those can be recycled, but in many places, there aren't recycling bins, only trash cans. So recycling bins need to be more common in public or people need to carry around empty water bottles until they get home so they can recycle. The second thing I think of when I hear "landfill" are shoes. Of course, there's no way to recycle completely worn out shoes, so the solution here is to stop wearing shoes. Or, I guess, instead of buying new shoes, have them fixed.
April 18, 2019 at 10:49 PM
Anonymous said…
This is a very unique approach to take back some damage caused by landfills. It is very different and creative, but I think many people would be reluctant to visit a landfill park because it has not been common in the past. I think we contribute a lot to landfills by throwing away things we can recycle and by not reusing things, adding more and more trash. We need to recycle more and reuse items however we can to lower our contributions to landfills. If we could find other alternatives to store waste, maybe we could reduce the impact of landfills.
April 19, 2019 at 12:49 PM
Anonymous said…
This is exactly the type of innovation that needs to be happening if we expect to have a healthy relationship with the environment. So much of what we throw away is organic material that could be used as fertilizer. This project in South Korea is essentially giving back to what we took from, and at the same time it helps teach visitors about the wonders of nature and why it’s important to conserve it. New, creative ideas such is this are necessary to solve not only our problems with landfillls, but other things as well. People are so focused on reducing the amount of trash being created when we still need to figure out what to do with massive landfills that we already have.
April 19, 2019 at 8:05 PM
Kareem Shamroukh said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
April 20, 2019 at 7:05 PM
Anonymous said…
This would be such a great and beneficial idea that would truly help cut down on the massive amounts of landfills we fill up. If we followed in the footsteps of South Korea in implementing these Landfill Parks, we could help our environment in the long run. The one problem with it would be convincing the US to make such a change, which I don't see happening. People of the US aren't as open to change as people of other countries, but if we were able to convince them, we would be helping out big time.
April 20, 2019 at 7:08 PM
Amogh Gokhale said…
Landfills have become something we are all too accustomed to the smell and sight of landfills, and the role they play. However, they are better than the alternative of having trash be floating around in our ecosystems, so while landfills aren't good, they do prevent a problem that is much bigger. These types of innovations are a step in the right direction towards a better future.
April 22, 2019 at 3:13 PM
Anonymous said…
Landfills are disgusting and are associated with what they are at their most bare bones explanation; filth. Turning a landfill into a park such as how South Korea did is unbelievable to me and extremely impressive. In a place like America, however, it would probably not happen. Everyone knows the amount of trash that is in cities, or world problems due to poor sanitation, but would make no effort to make their circumstances better. Making a landfill into an eco-friendly park/visitor site is a step in the right direction for the health of the Earth.
April 22, 2019 at 8:52 PM
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
April 23, 2019 at 8:11 AM
Anonymous said…
Landfills are a ongoing issue in every part of the world and are continuously increasing in size as they affect the standard of living. They have numerous impacts on human health and to our enviornment. Some things the government can do in the U.S. in regard to landfills are opening charities to donate cloths, reduce food waste, and mainly not buying in bulk. When we buy in bulk it is cheaper when considering buying each item separately but also when we buy in bulk, in most cases we waste most of it cause we don’t need all of it. Some things we could do to stop the increase of landfills are recycle. These are just small things to reduce the enviornment all impacts on landfills. These negative impacts include things such as air pollution, groundwater pollution, soil fertility, and mainly health problems.
April 23, 2019 at 8:12 AM
Anonymous said…
In my personal opinion, landfills are not ideal long term solutions. Simply put, piling and stacking garbage will eventually come back and cause problems. Short term satisfaction is never truly satisfactory and I believe that in order to properly dispose garbage, other methods should be utilized. This can either be accomplished through recycling or incineration when safe. If humans can find ways to dispose without causing harm to the environment, the lives of future generations can be greatly improved.
April 23, 2019 at 10:23 AM
Anonymous said…
Landfills are not only terrible to look at and smell, but also terrible for the environment. However, seeing one is no thought of as weird because at this pint in time, most people are used to it. I think South Korea has a very good system going and many countries, including the US, should do their best to follow in South Korea’s footsteps. Promoting a less wasteful life is a step that could be taken to try and combat this problem, but similar to many other issues, people are not willing to change their usual ways.
April 23, 2019 at 10:24 AM
Anonymous said…
I think what South Korea did with their landfill is incredible and could even serve as an example to other countries. However, I do think that landfills are a serious problem. They represent the American norm of using things once and then immediately throwing them away. Not only is this entirely wasteful, but it also greatly harms the environment. One thing we could do to help slow this process of waste and the accumulation of landfills is to reuse products that can be reused. Many, many things sit in landfills for years, taking up space and being an overall waste of energy. It is up to us to try to stop this process and make real change.
April 23, 2019 at 4:56 PM
Anonymous said…
Landfills are a problem that have always existed. I recently saw a different proposed solution to this problem. Taking trash from landfills and putting it in an active volcano that has magma flowing out of it would incinerate the trash, thus effectively getting rid of it. Ideally, this solution would work very well, however, as of now this solution is extremely expensive and quite dangerous. I think a better solution would be stopping the making of waste, thus stopping the development of more landfills.
April 24, 2019 at 8:54 AM
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