I have been driving down highway 157 for most of my life and on a hot, windy, summer day you can smell stench of trash, yes, trash. The thing I find most interesting is that while I have driven past the Arlington landfill for 30 years, not once have I turned onto Mosier Valley to see what really is causing that caustic aroma. I knew it was a landfill but, had no reason to care how, or where they were disposing of my trash. It really is amazing that everyday we create trash and never have to see it or deal with it. We put our trash on the curb and pretty much do not even give it a second thought. Wow, we are spoiled, out of sight out of mind, sad really. So, today is the day, no more ignorance is bliss. Quinn and I are going forth to gain knowledge that may change our thinking forever. We are going to turn onto Mosier Valley and see where our trash finds its resting place for eternity, the Arlington Landfill.
We arrive at the landfill at 3:30 and are greeted by a big sign:
Rules for all things trash!
We proceed to the scale house. The scale house is where all and, I mean all trash that is put to rest is weighed and accounted for before it is allowed to enter.
Arlington Scale House
We arrive at the scale house and are greeted by Gary, head of operations for the Arlington Landfill. Gary is tall and a bit more corporate casual then Bill from the Denton Landfill. He invites Quinn into the front seat of his white Suburban. I jump into the back seat. Gary starts right in on the facts. The Arlington Landfill is 790 acres and receives 3,500 tons of trash a day, that is 850 truck loads. Quinn is still interested in only one thing, “can I go through your trash?” Quinn gets the same answer “No, that would be scavenging which is illegal” again he is disappointed but, moves on. The Arlington Landfill only allows commercial vehicles to go to the actual landfill to drop off their trash. So we climb a pretty big hill to get a look at the landfill.
The Arlington Landfill has been taking trash since the 1950′s but it originated as a quarry. They currently have about 250 acres of buried trash on the site and have about 50 acres left that are slated for trash. After they fill up the 300 acres with trash they have to go to the state and get permission to use more of the 790 acres as landfill. The differences between the Denton Landfill and the Arlington Landfill are many. The Denton landfill goes 45 feet deep and the Arlington Landfill is 250 feet deep. That is a bunch of trash. The Arlington Landfill is a traditional landfill that has no intentions of reusing the old landfills. Their goal is to mummify the trash so it does not get into our water table. The Denton Landfill is trying out the bioreactor side of things that will allow them to keep reusing the same sites by composting the trash at quick rate . The Arlington Landfill has 790 acres. They could keep taking trash for sometime. While the Denton Landfill only has 152 acres. I applaud Denton for the steps they are taking in reusing their land even if it is out of necessity. I guess “Necessity is the mother of invention” even when it comes to trash.
Gary is very proud of his landfill as well. We ask him how and why he got into trash. He has a degree in Environmental Engineering and Business to start and got interested in waste management when he worked at a chicken hatchery. Chicken hatcheries have a waste issue as well and Gary help them start a compost business to deal with the waste. He began working with Municipalities during this time. He realized he could make a difference working in waste management and thus his career began. He has been at the Arlington Landfill for 5 years.
Gary is most proud of his relationship with Living Earth. Living Earth has a pretty big chunk of land leased from the Arlington Landfill. Gary showed us the numerous piles that contain everything from pecan hulls, corn husk hulls, and yard waste:
Living Earth has been returning tree limbs, brush, leaves and grass clippings to beneficial reuse for over 20 years, Living Earth is the largest recycler of green material in Texas. Living Earth’s web-site states “As consumers and municipalities are becoming increasingly aware, recycling green material reduces landfill use, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, promotes water conservation and returns organic material back into the environment.” If you are in need of soil, compost or mulch I ure you to support Living Earth they seem to be doing a great job and have 7 different locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Residents of the City of Arlington may bring any of the following items to the landfill for recycling:
-
Computers* and Televisions*
- Tires (limit of four)
- Concrete*
- Asphalt
- Brush
- Fence Panels
- Scrap Metal*
*No charge.
We asked Gary if he saw any ”Green” changes for the Arlington Landfill in the near future and he said “We are following all of the federal and state guidelines and said change is slow when it comes to federal regulations. ” As a mom of 2 beautiful children it saddens me t think that we will just keep filling up our planet with trash and expecting our future leaders to deal with our mess. There has to be a way to make change happen at a quicker pace. We have the knowledge, we must use it.
Our next adventure will be to visit our first recycling plant in Mc Kinney, Texas. Join us, as we find out if that plastic water bottle we toss in the recycle bin really gets recycled!
emptytrashcans
