Landfills

• A traditional method of waste treatment, landfills basically bury trash in layers underneath earth. Sophisticated landfill designs plumb the zones with piping to allow gases and methane to vent back into the atmosphere or be burned off, but, ultimately, the trash gets hidden underground, until it deteriorates. This method works fine when there is plenty of land to use in the region, but when land becomes scarce, communities find themselves building on top of old landfills. This brings a number of problems with poisoned ground from years of trash leaching chemicals.
  
  

Burning Trash

• Incineration sounds fairly efficient, since the remaining product is essentially ashes, if anything. Under enough heat, very little waste is left. This makes burning a very appealing form of waste management, since it doesn't require storage, burying or managing. However, incineration has a price. Much of trash involves substances that give off extremely toxic chemicals and gasses when burned. Many environmental laws in the U.S. ban such wholesale gas production to the atmosphere to protect communities. Thus, while incineration may seem attractive as a waste solution, legally, it is very difficult to maintain as a process. One modern method of burning uses waste as a free fuel to burn, creating heat that is then used to turn generators that produce electricity. Such biomass plants in theory then return energy back to communities.
  
  

Recycling

• Gaining vogue with modern communities that are looking for ways to reduce waste being sent to landfills, recycling looks for product re-use for a number of materials. Some of the most commonly known recyclables tend to be food containers, such as bottles and cans; however, many other materials can be re-used, as well. Steel, metal, wood, plastic, earth and vegetation can be turned into viable product in various forms. This avoids waste build-up and provides new, raw material to work with again.
  
  

Biological Reprocessing

• For the waste product that is not processed or chemically-made, such as plastic or styrofoam, for example, biological reprocessing offers a method of breaking down that returns the base elements back to nature. For simple, biological waste, such as food, cloth, plant, paper and natural stone, this process works well. In essence, the material is piled into big lumps and left to decompose. The material is then mulched together and used in agricultural modes. However, the material must be free of chemicals or the same poisons will carry forward to the areas the processed waste is applied.