What are the Causes of Landfills?
Humans have always created waste. Everything we do causes waste. We have begun to create so much waste that we now need to find a new way to dispose of it. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, the waste we have created has been growing in volume every year. During the Industrial Revolution, the amount of waste humans generated was quite small. According to 'http://people.hws.edu/', during those first 100 years of the Industrial Revolution, the population would 'pollute and disperse'. This means that the population of a city would dispose of their waste in the lakes and rivers near their city. As the amount of garbage produced increased, these bodies of water started getting polluted, dirty and smelly. The population used these water sources for drinking and washing purposes. As the garbage created got bigger and bigger, people needed to find alternative ways of disposing of their waste.
This was the reason the first landfills were created. Since cities could no longer dispose of waste into rivers, they decided to adopt a 'concentrate and contain' mentality. This means that the garbage was put into piles, or big dumps at first. These big dumps became smelly and unattractive as well as ruin the scenery. The United States was one of the first countries to adopt Landfills. USA decided to dispose of their waste under mountains of dirt (visit our What Are Landfills? page for more info), which helped reduce the smell and attractiveness of large garbage dumps.
The main reason Landfills were created was to find a new way of disposing waste without harming the the environment as much. This, as some may know, did not work as planned. To find out more on what landfills do to our environment, head over to 'Effects of Landfills'!
This was the reason the first landfills were created. Since cities could no longer dispose of waste into rivers, they decided to adopt a 'concentrate and contain' mentality. This means that the garbage was put into piles, or big dumps at first. These big dumps became smelly and unattractive as well as ruin the scenery. The United States was one of the first countries to adopt Landfills. USA decided to dispose of their waste under mountains of dirt (visit our What Are Landfills? page for more info), which helped reduce the smell and attractiveness of large garbage dumps.
The main reason Landfills were created was to find a new way of disposing waste without harming the the environment as much. This, as some may know, did not work as planned. To find out more on what landfills do to our environment, head over to 'Effects of Landfills'!