LUDB: Dump / Landfill

Byxbee Park

Mon, 15 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT

This 30 acre park, constructed on a landfill between 1988-1992, has several earthworks and land art pieces on it, designed by the park designers, George Hargreaves, Peter Richards, and Michael Oppenheimer. A series of mounds, a series of poles, and other berms and concrete zigzags. Palo Alto meets the Bay in an interesting collection of terminal sites around the park. An active landfill for the city lies next to the wastewater treatment plant for the region, which discharges into the adjacent slough. Up until a few years ago, gold from the area's high-tech firms was extracted from the wastewater and sold. Now companies using gold capture it themselves.

Coffeyville Hazardous Waste Site

Sun, 30 Dec 2001 00:00:00 GMT

This hazardous waste management site is among the largest and most notorious in the nation. The hazardous chemical incinerator on site burned the contaminated soil from Times Beach, Missouri, as well as PCBs and other chemicals from all over the nation. The Safety-Kleen company, the nations largest hazardous and industrial waste management company, acquired the site when it bought Aptus, a division of Rollins Environmental Services, which itself had acquired the company from Westinghouse. Safety-Kleen closed the incinerator in 2001, but is continuing on site hazardous storage activities.

Envirosafe Chemical Waste Site

Sun, 13 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT

The single permitted commercial hazardous waste dump in Ohio is located across the river from Toledo, in the industrial and farming community of Oregon. The site consists of hundreds of acres of grass covered mounds and waste handling sheds. It is one of the only commercial hazardous waste dump in the country with direct rail access. Envirosafe sold its other hazardous waste site in Idaho in 2001.

Farallon Islands

Mon, 15 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT

For thirty years, a 365 square mile area around the Farallon Islands served as the nation's primary nuclear waste dumping ground. From 1945 to 1970, when nuclear dumping at sea was prohibited, an estimated 47,500 barrels of radioactive debris from nuclear labs such as Lawrence Livermore were dumped in the area. Ships irradiated in the Bikini Atoll nuclear bomb tests of the 1940's and '50's were sunk off the islands (including the aircraft carrier Independence), along with numerous undocumented materials. The extent of contamination in the area has not yet been fully investigated.

Fort Wayne Chemical Waste Dump

Sun, 30 Dec 2001 00:00:00 GMT

A chemical waste site with a capacity of 2,800,000 cubic yards, operated by Chemical Waste Management, a subsidiary of waste giant WMX Technologies. One of less than 30 commercial chemical waste sites in the country.

Fresh Kills Dump

Sun, 13 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT

The principal dump for New York City's garbage for over 50 years, Fresh Kills is the largest landfill in the world. 2,200 acres and a few hundred feet high, the dump received 14,000 tons per day, or 5 million tons per year, until it was shut down in 2001. It became the disposal site for the remains of the World Trade Center after the terrorist attack of Sepember 11, 2001. It will be redeveloped into a park, eventually.

Newby Island Landfill

Fri, 18 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT

The Newby Landfill is one of the largest active dumps on the shores of the bay. It is the terminus for waste for all of San Jose, Milpitas and other cities. The 342 acre pile is still at least 30 feet from its permitted height of 120 feet, and has decades to go before it is scheduled to close. The landfill is an island surrounded by a levee which keeps its runoff from directly entering the bay, and the water that drains from it is treated in the dump's own treatment plant. Electricity for the dump is generated by burning the methane collected from the decomposition of the waste. Dried sewage sludge from the nearby San Jose Treatment Plant is the material used as cover, mixed in with the trash, blending San Jose's waste streams. It is operated by Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), which, along with Waste Management Incorporated, transports and disposes of most of the household trash in the United States.

Prima Deshecha Landfill

Fri, 18 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT

This portion of Prima Deshecha Canyon, with ocean views above Capistrano Beach, is slowly being filled in with trash from the households and industries of Orange County. Though the two other major dumps in the county (at Sand Canyon and at Brea) currently receive more waste, they are running out of room. The Prima Deshecha Landfill is larger in area than both, and is expected to operate for decades. Paying scavengers at the dump collect some of the waste as it comes in, and return much of the saleable material to Mexico. Methane is collected from a network of buried pipes, and fuels a power plant at the landfill.

Revival Field, Pig's Eye Landfill

Tue, 8 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT

Mel Chin created and maintained this piece from 1990 to 1993. Surrounded by a square control area, a circular fence divides a portion of hazardous waste landfill into quadrants of plants (known as hyperaccumulators) that absorb and process metal from the ground. The plants then recycle this toxic metal into its pure form, ready to be used by industry. Since the first venue in Saint Paul, Revival Fields has since travelled throughout the United States and to Europe.

Roosevelt Regional Landfill

Fri, 20 Dec 2002 00:00:00 GMT

The largest private landfill in the state, Roosevelt covers an area of 2,545 acres, has a 120 million ton capacity, and a 40 year expected trash-receiving life. Trash comes in shipping containers, mostly via rail from the Seattle area, to an intermodal yard in Roosevelt (owned by the same privately held waste company - Rabanco). Containers are loaded onto trucks for the haul up the hill to the landfill, and then emptied by tilting lifts that upend the container/trailer assembly. Trash also arrives from a network of nine intermodal yards that connect the landfill to sources as far away as California. Trash also comes from Alaska on barges. Empty trash trains take fruit and other goods from eastern Washington back to Seattle (in different containers).

Sheffield Radioactive Waste Site

Sun, 30 Dec 2001 00:00:00 GMT

One of the nation's six original low-level radioactive waste sites, Sheffield was opened in 1967, was filled to permitted capacity in 1978, and was subsequently closed. For much of its life it was operated by US Ecology, a division of American Ecology, which also operated the first commercial radioactive waste site in Beatty, Nevada. It has been sued by the state of Illinois for contaminating a nearby lake with radioactivity. Though no longer accepting waste, this site will continue to be radioactive indefinitely and will be off-limits and monitored. There are less than six operating commercial radioactive waste sites in the country, which accept only "low level" waste, such as contaminated laboratory material from medical facilities. High level radioactive waste is managed by the government and the commercial power plants that produce it.

Sierra Blanca Sludge Ranch

Mon, 15 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT

Between 1992 and 2001, as many as 45 train cars per day bought sewage sludge from New York City to this 129,000 acre West Texas property, where it is spread out on the ground like peanut butter. The waste site is a former resort called the Mile High Ranch, and is owned by a Long Island New York company, Merco Joint Venture. The contract with New York City was terminated in June of 2001, and the sludge ranch, possibly the largest in the World, is now idle.

West Contra Costa County Landfill

Fri, 18 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT

The West Contra Costa County Landfill in North Richmond is one of the largest and oldest continuously active landfills on the Bay. It serves communities all along the south shore of San Pablo Bay, from Crockett to parts of Berkeley. The pile, started as bay fill in 1952, is approaching its permitted terminal height of 235 feet. Due to compaction caused by the weight of the mound, the waste extends 25 feet below sea level. Like most landfills in the Bay Area, WCCC is privately owned, and was recently bought by Republic Industries, which in addition to owning landfills across the country, also owns the National and Alamo car rental chains, and the used car chain AutoNation.