November 12, 2024

I mentioned in October how Melissa and I had bitten the bullet and purchased new furniture for our living room. We repurposed the old furniture by donating it to the Habitat ReStore. They had been willing to pick up the two couches, a love seat, and a recliner, but refused my old chair because it was too worn. That meant the large recliner has been sitting in the middle of our garage for the last month. I have been cleaning (disposing of) and rearraigning the garage for several weeks to finally address the boxes we brought from Kansas and those we had temporarily stored from her parents’ collection when we moved in five years ago. A cleaner garage also meant it was time to move the recliner. I hesitated when we bought the Jeep six years ago because I have longed for a pickup, and more importantly the bed to haul things in. A local supply store has been advertising a small 5 by 8 foot (1.5 by 2.4 m) trailer and this could be the answer to move my old recliner to the landfill.

When I looked online, I found a landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate, and final covers only began in the 1940’s. In the past, waste was simply left in piles or thrown into pits (called middens in archeology). Landfills take up a lot of land and depending on what materials are disposed of can pose an environmental risk. Some landfill sites are used for waste management purposes, such as temporary storage, consolidation, and transfer (transfer stations). A landfill can also be used for various stages of processing of waste material, such as sorting, treatment, or recycling. The compacted waste is typically covered with soil or alternative materials (chipped wood or other “green waste”) daily. Compaction of waste is critical to extending the life of the landfill, and unless stabilized the materials may undergo severe shaking or soil liquefaction during an earthquake. Once full, the area over a landfill is covered and site may be reclaimed for other uses.

As I pulled my new trailer and the recliner into the landfill the attendant asked if my Jeep had a 4- wheel drive. I thought it was an odd question, but they went on to suggest (twice) that I drop into 4-wheel before entering the site. Still skeptical, I put the vehicle into 4-high and proceeded along the winding road leading to the current disposal area. On arrival I realized why the attendant had asked. We had several days of rain and the area in front of the waste pile had been churched to a morass. I pulled forward into the quagmire as directed by another attendant, but was stopped and told I needed to back in. As I started to back the trailer out to turn around, he asked if all I had was the one chair. He then told me to just pull forward and he tossed the chair onto the ground. I then plowed back through the mud to turn around and continued to the checkout station. Between the trailer and fees, it cost me US$1100 to take my worn recliner to the landfill. It was still better than allowing the chair to sit in the middle of my garage, and now I can think up new projects to use the trailer.

THOUGHTS: While one of the badges of honor with a 4-wheel drive is showing off the mud caked sides of your vehicle (ala the teenage boys), I did not think my visit to a muddy landfill qualified for this honor. I took the Jeep and trailer home and promptly washed them down. Landfills have the potential to cause a number of issues. The heavy vehicles cause damage to access roads. Pollution of local roads and watercourses from wheels as vehicles leave the landfill can be significant, as can contamination of groundwater, aquifers, or soil by the waste materials. Landfills in the US are regulated by each state’s environmental agency. However, none of these standards may fall below those set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Three hundred years from now an archeologist will be combing through our local midden, and worder how the mechanism for my recliner worked. Think of it as job security. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.