Thread: Business - trust us, it's OK to store your waste in landfills

Our local city had some land on which to build a library. It was laced with PCBs and asbestos from prior decades. Somehow the city found a way to 'approve' that all of the hazardous waste could simply go into the regular landfill even though there is not a chance in hell they would have allowed a commercial business to do the same thing.

In other words, landfills get stuffed with everything under the sun, even when its dangerous and could contaminate water supplies. That's the way government works, dontcha know?

OK, let's check the alternative.

What do you propose we do with the waste from the BP cleanup?

Matt

ahoy MattLarson!

one option would be fer BP to arrange fer a mighty armada 'o vessels to cart the whole mess back to England. 'nother option would be Yucca Mountain, fer i don't think that facility is bein' used fer anythin'.

*salutes*

- MeadHallPirate

Originally Posted by MattInFla

OK, let's check the alternative.

What do you propose we do with the waste from the BP cleanup?

Matt

A fair question, Matt.

The oil and water should be separated, and if the oil can be passed on for refining, all the better. The water, still contaminated, should be purified if possible. If not, I say boil it and run the steam through a high-temperature burner to ensure complete hydrocarbon combustion into water and carbon dioxide. Any residue should be treated like other toxic waste.

For the solid waste, as much oil as possible should be extracted from the solids (the sponges, etc. that they are using) and sent for distillation/steam cracking. If efficient combustion is possible, I'd say do that, with a similar high-temperature pass on the exhaust to make sure that it's completely burned, and then take all the residues and dispose of them as other toxic waste would be (specialized containers in specialized facilities).

Dumping the waste in a standard landfill is not acceptable, IMHO.


But, the real question I was trying to ask is - how do we properly incentivize businesses to do the right thing? Clearly fines are insufficient and treated as a cost of doing business. It also seems clear that many companies are not interested in doing the right thing if it in any way impacts how much money they are able to extract from the system. We need to find a better way to change behavior.

Originally Posted by pramjockey

Can these businesses be trusted? What's their incentive to do the right thing?

Every commercial landfill I've ever known about is licensed to operate. There are rules, standards and performance, as well as constant monitoring and inspection... state and local.

Fuck up and you could lose your license to operate.

Cover up a fuck up, and (could0 go to jail AND the place be shut down.

IF... IF, the landfill is licensed to take this type of 'stuff' sure, why not? We have landfills around here with natural 'clay bases' and then a couple of thousand feet of rock to get to the aquifer. It wouldn't make it in in 5,000 years.

Originally Posted by pramjockey

But, the real question I was trying to ask is - how do we properly incentivize businesses to do the right thing?

What if, just a suggestion but, what if we fired, fined & imprisoned a few of the "regulators" that were downloading porn instead of making sure BP was playing by the rules? Same for the Wall St. "regulators". Has there been even 1 firing?

Originally Posted by Bearman

What if, just a suggestion but, what if we fired, fined & imprisoned a few of the "regulators" that were downloading porn instead of making sure BP was playing by the rules? Same for the Wall St. "regulators". Has there been even 1 firing?

I'd have no problem with criminal prosecutions.

Originally Posted by pramjockey

I'd have no problem with criminal prosecutions.

It seems to me that we have paid a LOT of people to fiddle while our Rome was burning. Everyone wants to go after BP, and with good reason, but we pay regulators to make sure BP doesn't kill the Gulf & granny & grandpa don't lose their investments through Madoff & Goldman Sachs. As far as I know, not one regulator has even been called on the carpet.

I want to know why. They worked under both D & R admins. Who is protecting whom, and why?

Now, had a regulator poured some water over a terrorists face.....