Saturday, 26 April 2025

Any Old Rubbish

 


Old landfill sites, unlike newer-constructed versions, were never lined, in an attempt to prevent chemical leaching. In England, circa 100 old landfill sites may be leaching highly-hazardous chemicals into their surrounding areas. Since 2000, at various times, these sites have been flooded. Inadequate council records, also means that nobody is entirely sure what materials were dumped in them (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/26/more-than-100-landfills-in-england-may-be-leaching-highly-hazardous-waste). The old 'philosophy' used to be 'out of sight, out of mind'. So, some very toxic materials (containing e.g. lead, mercury, DDT, organophosphates etc.) could have been directed to landfill over the decades. One might get more than Victorian cod bottles from such locations. Climate change, with its increased flooding risk, probably requires some sites to be urgently re-evaluated

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