/sci/ - Science & Math » Thread #12988056

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Why are we encouraged to keep food waste out of landfill??

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 03:53:50 2021 No.12988056 View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>12988072 >>12988506 >>12988586

>stupid question that's always bugged me a little
If the problem with landfill is that it takes a long time for the contents to biodegrade and return to the earth wouldn't it be better if a larger proportion of it was this type of compostable waste that will return to earth sooner? Thus allowing the whole landfill to 'heal' sooner?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 03:58:10 No.12988072 Report

Quoted By: >>12988076

>>12988056
Organic food waste generates methane gas which builds up in atmosphere and causes a greenhouse gas which makes the oceans rise up and destroy new york city two weeks from now

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 04:00:51 No.12988076 Report

Quoted By: >>12988084 >>12988833

>>12988072
Does it do this differently in a landfill vs a backyard green cone or compost heap?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 04:03:26 No.12988084 Report

Quoted By: >>12988115

>>12988076
A compost heap is ideal, preferably inside your house so the methane gas remains indoors rather than escaping into the atmosphere and causing runaway climate change.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 04:11:47 No.12988115 Report

Quoted By: >>12988617

>>12988084
So it's the same guy responding on /sci as on /b /mu /pol and all the other boards.

Good to know.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 05:30:51 No.12988506 Report

Quoted By: >>12988754

>>12988056
landfills are usualy isolated from ecosystems, so food waste there doesn't biodegrade fast or well because there's no organisms on it other than the bacteria brought in by other trash.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 05:50:46 No.12988586 Report

Quoted By: >>12988754

>>12988056
It probably has more to do with subsidence. Landfills are lined with plastic sheets that are several feet thick, then they're filled and another plastic sheet is pulled over the top and the whole thing is sealed around a pipe that collects gasses from the waste so they can be burned for energy. Several feet of dirt is heaped on top of all of this and then the land is typically used for building space or as a park. If you put an apartment on top of it and there was a significant amount of food waste then, as the food decomposes, the landfill will subside in places and damage the apartment building.

Just compost it. We're running out of topsoil as is.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 06:00:38 No.12988617 Report

Quoted By:

>>12988115
Idk what that means, but dropping the irony I blamed methane because it's what all the results on the front page of google gave me

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 06:51:22 No.12988754 Report

Quoted By: >>12988805

>>12988506
>>12988586
Interesting answers thanks anons

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 07:18:58 No.12988805 Report

Quoted By:

>>12988754
As an additional point, all putting your organic material in a landfill actually accomplishes is mixing what WOULD become fertilizer with toxic materials like the batteries people throw out.

People in the future are going to have to deal with our toxic waste. Best we keep it more concentrated and keep the stuff plants can use out.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 07:32:45 No.12988833 Report

Quoted By: >>12988836

>>12988076
compost rot is primarily aerobic - meaning it decomposes to CO2 straight away
landfill rot is primarily anaerobic and generates methane
why does it matter? methane is about 30 times stronger greenhouse gas than CO2
you can tap into landfill and burn the gas as it's being generated, but it's leaking all over the place and it's not effective way of generating gas anyway

besides, you need more landfill room to fill up - more ruined real estate, more dump trucks going in and out
the other option greatly improves your garden's soil

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 07:35:13 No.12988836 Report

Quoted By: >>12988882

>>12988833
>compost rot is primarily aerobic - meaning it decomposes to CO2 straight away
>landfill rot is primarily anaerobic and generates methane
Have you ever taken a biochemistry course?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 07:55:27 No.12988882 Report

Quoted By:

>>12988836
I did
I also took a waste management course
intentionally, I put it in very simplistic layman terms
there are different stages and it all depends on moisture, pile compaction, aeration, composition, bacterial strains, presence of biota etc.
you can read up more about it if you are interested in knowing more

when I say composting is primarily CO2, I mean it's about 70-90% CO2 and 10-30% CH4, you still do get some methane, but a lot less
when I say landfill is primarily methane generating, I mean 50-60% CH4 and 40-50% CO2 - that's why it's not that great way to generate burnable methane - lot of CO2, moisture and corrosive acid vapors (formic, acetic, butyric) means you can't really use it as natural gas, which is pure(-ish) methane

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 08:11:04 No.12988911 Report

Quoted By: >>12988957 >>12989022

Worm bins are the way. You can control for the most part, what goes in it. You get out useful products and increased biomass. You spend nothing, it burns no diesel to haul away.

I have been worm composting for over ten years now. It generates CO2, but, in the process, creates new life and new soil. My stacks are teeming with life, all the worms, centipedes, potato beetles, fruit flies, etc. create new soil and new life. There is no smell unless you put the wrong kind of stuff in it at too high a concentration.

Every one else can fuck themselves. People who "compost" are kidding themselves- you need a minimum amount of material of a cubic yard (3'x3'x3'), and constant effort (rotation and fluffing), to achieve critical temperatures. The piles collapse far too fast. All plastic barrel / box / open air / retail / amateur household "composting" is total bullshit.

I'm certified. Over 10 years of experience. I just facepalm whenever people tell me they "compost". They have no idea what it takes. Composting is done on an industrial scale, moving giant piles with front loaders. Its also a joke- the residential and commercial waste stream is completely contaminated. All kinds of persistent pollution feeds into it. "Finished compost" from these facilities looks great. Under a microscope, its filled with bits of plastic and all kinds of other shit they cannot and do not test the product for. They sell it back to idiot gardeners who don't know shit from shine-ola.

Never take advice from a "gardener". They are all fucking idiots.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 08:29:17 No.12988957 Report

Quoted By:

>>12988911
>its filled with bits of plastic and all kinds of other shit they cannot and do not test the product for
microplastics have contaminated the atmosphere, it reaches even the most remote mountaintops. There is no escape from it anymore, everyone alive has some level of plastic infiltration into their bodies now.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 17 Apr 2021 08:50:22 No.12989022 Report

Quoted By:

>>12988911
>Every one else can fuck themselves. People who "compost" are kidding themselves- you need a minimum amount of material of a cubic yard (3'x3'x3'), and constant effort (rotation and fluffing), to achieve critical temperatures.
You're talking out of your ass. My pile is half that size and I only turn it once or twice a week when I make new additions. It's loaded with actinomyces which indicates proper temperatures and my finished compost is too quality.

Besides that you can create nurse logs by layering your carbon rich and nitrogen rich waste and topping it with a couple inches of dirt. Last year I used that method to fill a 12" x 12" x 36" box I screwed together from rotting plywood, threw some bone meal on top of it, and grew a bunch of zucchini.

Sucks that you didn't learn much over 10 years, but hey, at least you proved anyone can be certified.

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