China’s Largest Landfill Reaches Capacity Decades Ahead of Schedule

When discussing why compostables are better then standard single-use plastics and paper goods for foodservice and other uses, a typical opposing argument is that simply landfilling or burning the trash for energy is more effective and less expensive. This is hardly true once we consider the rate at which we are dumping our waste in the ground, covering it, and hoping it goes away.

It is a well-proven fact that burying trash will, sooner or later, begin to pollute the local water table and have other undesirable effects, and burning releases more C02 and untold amounts of toxins into our atmosphere.

Here is one example of how Chinese landfills are reaching capacity decades before their design life was envisioned. This exemplifies why the bury-and-it-will-go-away method of waste management is just a fantasy.

Also consider that, until a handful of years ago, huge amounts of “recyclables” from the United States were shipped to China for reprocessing. In reality, this meant that only the best stuff was sorted out, while the rest was buried or burned. Pragmatically, we were exporting our trash and garbage for someone else to deal with.