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writing:landfill_mining [2026/02/26 23:02] – JacobCoffinWriteswriting:landfill_mining [2026/04/08 20:40] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
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 Improving these sites would entail emptying the pit, sorting and shipping out the salvageable stuff, doing the necessary soil and groundwater testing and any environmental restoration, and building proper lined (and eventually capped) pits to contain whatever waste couldn't be salvaged. Improving these sites would entail emptying the pit, sorting and shipping out the salvageable stuff, doing the necessary soil and groundwater testing and any environmental restoration, and building proper lined (and eventually capped) pits to contain whatever waste couldn't be salvaged.
  
-Landfill Mining can even be used to empty out and close a landfill for good, removing a potential safety hazard and opening the land to restoration or some other use such as redevelopment. This is sometimes done in the US, where the 30-year monitoring requirements from date of closure mean that a landfill which is not in use still (correctly) remains an ongoing expense for the community.+Landfill Mining can even be used to empty out and close a landfill for good, removing a potential safety hazard and opening the land to restoration or some other use such as redevelopment. This is sometimes done in the US, where the 30-year monitoring requirements from date of closure mean that a landfill which is not in use still (correctly) remains an ongoing budget expense for the community (in addition to the often untracked ecological and health costs).
  
 ==== What kind of stuff can you get? ==== ==== What kind of stuff can you get? ====
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 Examples from [[https://semspub.epa.gov/work/01/277818.pdf|this article]] mentioned the soil fraction testing clean enough to be used as results of analyses indicated that it qualified for off-site use as clean fill in public construction projects or returned to use as daily landfill cover. However given that the paper is somewhat old, and the examples are even older, I'd be skeptical that the tests covered[[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652622027251| all the dangerous contaminants we track today]]. Examples from [[https://semspub.epa.gov/work/01/277818.pdf|this article]] mentioned the soil fraction testing clean enough to be used as results of analyses indicated that it qualified for off-site use as clean fill in public construction projects or returned to use as daily landfill cover. However given that the paper is somewhat old, and the examples are even older, I'd be skeptical that the tests covered[[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652622027251| all the dangerous contaminants we track today]].
  
-Our page on phytoremediation has a few examples of ways soil can be cleaned if necessary.+Our page on [[phytoremediation, mycoremediation, and bioremediation|phytoremediation]] has a few examples of ways soil can be cleaned if necessary.
  
-**Fuel** - a portion of the excavated waste can be burned in a municipal waste combustor (MWC) to produce heat and energy. This one might be contentious within a solarpunk setting. A properly-built and -filtered Municipal Waste Combustion facility should catch a lot of the pollution and it's a common answer for turning a waste product into energy in the present day, but it still releases greenhouse gasses and other contaminants.+**Fuel** - a portion of the excavated waste can be burned in a municipal waste combustor (MWC) to produce heat and energy. This one might be contentious within a solarpunk setting. A properly-built and -filtered Municipal Waste Combustion facility should catch a lot of the pollution and it's a common answer for turning a waste product into energy in the present day, but it still releases greenhouse gasses and other contaminants. In fact when I was researching the section on "contaminants and where they come from" for the Phytoremediation page, I was struck by how many resources I found listed incineration of municipal solid wast or medical waste as a main cause for human exposure.
  
 It seems like this component is essentially the leftover materials, and would include paper, wood, fabrics, and whatever plastics and rubber isn't otherwise recovered: "In a typical LFMR operation, once the  oversize non-processibles, the dirt fraction, and the ferrous metals are removed, the remaining material may be recovered as fuel for a waste-to-energy facility, processed for recovery of other recyclables, or landfilled as residue." It seems like this component is essentially the leftover materials, and would include paper, wood, fabrics, and whatever plastics and rubber isn't otherwise recovered: "In a typical LFMR operation, once the  oversize non-processibles, the dirt fraction, and the ferrous metals are removed, the remaining material may be recovered as fuel for a waste-to-energy facility, processed for recovery of other recyclables, or landfilled as residue."
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 This paper provides some recommendations on how these plastics could be reused: [[https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6419269/]] This paper provides some recommendations on how these plastics could be reused: [[https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6419269/]]
 +
 +With a bit of overlap with bioremediation, [[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-026-01785-z|this paper]] describes a process for using microorganisms to turn a specific type of waste product into a drug which treats Parkinson's. 
  
 **Other Information about Recovered Resources:** **Other Information about Recovered Resources:**