Old landfills
In ancient times human groups used to dump domestic waste in places called middens. Middens are places where food remains such as shellfish and animal bones, ash and charcoal from fires, and broken or worn out tools were thrown away, dumped or buried. Middens are one of the most common kind of archaeological site found in New Zealand.
In the recent past landfills were called tips, dumps, rubbish dumps or dumping grounds. They were often poorly managed with little regard for environmental protection, such as no liners to prevent seepage of leachate.
The modern landfill
A modern landfill is very different. In a modern landfill solid waste (rubbish) is compacted and placed in the smallest area possible, covered over with soil and monitored.
Together we are aiming for zero waste so that we don’t need to have landfills. However despite our best efforts to reduce, reuse, recycle and recover there is still some waste which needs to be disposed. Until technologies arrive that are able to treat ALL waste, we need to have landfills.
