Limitations in the Use of Sanitary
Landfill as a Method of Solid
Trash Disposal
WILBUR  C.  WEBB
Staff Engineer
Pennsylvania Economy League, Inc.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sanitary landfill is a coined word used extensively by the United
States Public Health Service and adopted by most persons and organizations concerned with refuse disposal. Basically, the name describes
the process. However, most attempts at defining are concerned with
minimums specifications as applied to the operation. For the purpose
of this discussion, the definition offered by the United States Public
Health Service and the minimum specifications they include will be
used.
Sanitary landfill is the process of depositing refuse on the ground,
usually in a depressed area; compacting that refuse very thoroughly and
covering the compacted material within 24 hours with approximately
24 inches of earth or equal material. This process "fills" the "land"
and normally is "sanitary" from a public health point of view.
The word trash as included in the title of this paper can be construed to refer only to discarded rubbish excluding garbage as has been
done by the American Public Works Association. However, dictionaries
usually are a litle more generous and include all broken up, discarded
and worthless things and materials. The dictionary's version will be
used in this discussion. Sanitary landfill can in the broadest sense be
described as the production or processing of waste materials which are,
or can be made, through compaction, into masses of materials filling
desired shapes as hollows or depressions and layers which will support
a certain amount of activity and equipment when so deposited, compressed, and covered. A basic advantage normally associated with the
sanitary landfill method of municipal or domestic refuse disposal is the
ability of the chemical and bacteriological activity in the surrounding
soil to convert the deposited shapes and materials into more desirable,
normally earthlike, materials. Industrial trash does not necessarily
have to be limited to materials which will be changed in composition
if sanitary landfill of industrial trash is practiced.
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