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My View: Landfill? Ick! But . . .
Commentary by Laura Hudgins
Photos by Karmeece Watson
The staff of The Hilltop asks questions of county recycling coordinator Amanda Cutshaw, far right. Staff from left are Rachel Connor, DP Peterson, Megan Trasport, Shawn Esworthy, Bria Smith and Jennifer Fulford, adviser. Photo by Karmeece Watson.
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When The Hilltop scheduled a trip to the Madison County landfill, I thought to myself: “How gross. A trip to a stinky landfill.”
So before we went, I looked up the definition of landfill on dictionary.com:
“A low area of land that is built up from deposits of solid refuse in layers covered by soil.” In other words -- piles of garbage. That’s what I was expecting on our field trip last month to the Madison County landfill. When we arrived at the landfill, no piles seemed evident. It was a big open space with a few grassy hills, trees surrounding the area and a couple of warehouses where recycling employees worked.
Two unusual things stuck out upon observation. Big pipes were sticking out vertically from the hillside of the used landfill. We learned that those pipes are used to check for methane gas, a byproduct of landfills.
Some of the only distinguishing traits of the landfill site are pipes that protrude from the grassy hillsides. Photo by Karmeece Watson.
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A second observation is that there is no trash accepted at the Madison County landfill because the county trucks off trash to an active landfill in Tennessee. Added all up, it’s actually cheaper to send the trash off instead of dumping it all here in the county.
It would cost more to create what is called a “cell” at the landfill, so shipping it off is the alternative. Because of that, more than 400 acres is available at the landfill site. The landfill hasn’t been active since 2004. Even though the landfill at Madison County isn’t active, the county does have an active recycling program. The landfill recycles many things like mixed paper, tires, used motor oil and even car batteries. The recycling program is growing. Mars Hill College participates by collecting mixed paper for the program.
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