Jackson Township Landfill - Research Paper Example

?Jackson Township Landfill In the Ocean County recycling program of Jackson Township was able to collect 170,000 lbs. of waste materials considered to be hazardous to human health. These consisted of assorted chemicals like pesticides, toilet cleaners, herbicides, silver polisher, bleaches, used oil, used gasoline, chemicals to develop pictures, paint, thinner, and many more. Most of them can be recycled. If not properly disposed of, they would eventually end up in Bamegat Bay. At least ten (10) locations were identified where homeowners can drop off their hazardous materials for recycling. These centers are said to be open 6 days a week. When people participate in the proper disposal of such garbage, the community is better able to maintain the sanitation and safety of various waterways and the surrounding land of New Jersey. In October 20, 2011, the same collection routine was announced by Jackson, NJ (2011). The latest garbage classified as health hazard was very recently brought to the attention of the people by Phil Stilton (2012). Those materials involved the “rigid plastics” that can be recycled after they are sold for $90 per ton. Practically any item made of plastics, whether they are furniture or containers, broken or old flower pots, except for specified plastics like grocery bags, vinyl, plastic pipes, stretch film, milk cartons, water hose, medical garbage, and other similar containers – have to be properly disposed and can be recycled. The landfill operated by Jackson Township was the object of a complaint filed and which reached the Supreme Court way back in 1987. In the case of Ayers versus Township of Jackson, the complainant sued for damages because his water well got contaminated with toxic pollutants. The Supreme Court ruled Jackson Township guilty and was ordered to pay the complainants an aggregate amount of “$15,854,392.78, to be divided among the plaintiffs in varied amounts” according to Stein, J. (1987, p.1). $ 2,056,480 of that aggregate figure was the compensation for people in three districts who suffered emotional distress after learning they drank water with toxic waste for 6 years. $5,396,940 was for their difficult experience with not having running water. This means the court determined that the landfill had prevented their water wells from having clean drinking water. $8,204,500 was the expert’s estimate of the medical surveillance cost following exposure to the possibility of cancer and whatever other diseases can be realized as a result of toxic chemicals found in the drinking water. What chemicals did investigative reports find in the water wells and traced to the Jackson Township Landfills? The Supreme Court was informed by experts that the landfill polluted the water wells with “acetone; benzene; chlorobenzene; chloroform; dichlorofluoromethane; ethylbenzene; methylene chloride; methyl isobutyl ketone; 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane; tetrahydrofuran; 1,1,1-trichloroethane; and trichloroethylene....” (Stein, J. 1987, p.1). Over 150 residents testified in court to complain against the chemical contamination of their drinking water. They all showed their emotional stress resulting from not having potable water for years. More specifically, because complainants needed potable water in the absence of their natural source, they were rationed their water supply in “40 gallon barrel containing a plastic liner filled with water” (p.2) which weighed 100 pounds. Residents actually experienced arthritis trying to fetch water for their needs out of the heavy container, everyday and multiple times a day just to be able to wash, cook, take a bath, and have drinking water. It was pronounced to be a primitive quality of life. People suffered anxieties, depression, fear, and stress as a result of living such a pattern daily. 88 of them showed signs of psychological disorders or problems. Furthermore, homeowners were so frustrated about the negative effect of having a landfill nearby because it devalued their properties. Potential buyers pointed to the landfill as the factor which forcibly reduced the value of all properties surrounding the landfill. Up until 1993, the New Jersey Department of Health (1993, p.1) classified Jackson Township Landfill as “an indeterminate public health hazard”. Government determined that there were illegally dumped industrial chemicals and other waste products from 1972-1980 which caused the development of septic waste, sludge, and eventual contamination of deep wells for drinking water. The location, Jackson Township itself, is made up of 100 square miles of land populated by 433,200 people as of 1990. Benzene found among the toxic waste is a cancerous substance. Tetrachlorethane is another carcinogen. Both were confirmed present in the inspection of Jackson Landfill in the early 1990s.As early as that time, the Department of Health had already restricted the landfill and recommended its closure. The site released methane. Even the dust coming from the landfill could cause skin irritation. Tang et al (2007, p.172), reporting for the United Nations Environment Programme, identified acetone which was among the toxic chemicals found in Jackson Township landfill, to be present in the atmosphere, more accurately in the upper troposphere where acetone becomes more stable,. This report traced the source partly from decomposition of various organic compounds. Acetone plays “a key role in the formation and transport of pollutants” (p.172) for long distance air pollution. Methyl will mix with mercury which gets induced by ultra violet oxidation, leading to poisoning of fish supplies, and later humans. Therefore, the landfill of Jackson Township contains threats not only to the water supply but also to the air that people breathe, as well as the aquatic life that people eat. These are some of the major reasons why the present 2012 Jackson Township has a recycling station and coordinates with other recycling stations elsewhere. Its mission is to protect the environment through proper education of citizens in the proper disposal of their hazardous waste materials, and to get their cooperation during collections of such garbage. Some other materials that cannot yet be recycled have to be voluntarily transported to specified locations where another group handles their proper disposal or transport to places where there are recycle stations for such garbage. Education and cooperation are very important for the maintenance of a healthy environment. The recycling station non-profit organization has created a website that teaches what to do with every type of material for disposal. This can be viewed at jacksonrecycling.org. For example, aluminium cans, steel food containers, plastic bottles, glass bottles should first be rinsed in preparation for their disposal. Those with lid covers should be opened and their lids separated. Each item should be separated. Different types of paper materials like newspapers, telephone books, magazines, and computer papers have to be separated, bundled and bagged. Corrugated cardboards have to be separated from other kinds of cardboards and then bagged. Styrofoam should either be bagged or boxed. All kinds of metals are accepted and even picked up with just a telephone call. Appliances without electronics, wires, screens, lawnmowers will only need telephone calls for pick up. Tires have to be cleaned, dried, and accumulated until they reach 4. And yet there are some materials that the Jackson Township Recycling Station will not accept. These consists of “batteries, wood, mirrors, ceramics, dishes, glass coffee pots, light bulbs, televisions, microwaves, computers, oil or oil containers, windows, Styrofoam food containers, carpets, yard waste (leaves, grass clippings), paint…” as shown in the Jackson Township Recycling Station (2012) website. So where do the unacceptable garbage materials go? Or what should be done to them? The same website of Jackson Township Recycling Station educates the public about its links to the various organizations that can facilitate the disposal of all unwanted hazardous materials. A visit to that website will see other organizations with a similar mission, namely, the Jackson Chamber, Solid Waste District, Stark County, The Stock Pile, Ohio Department of natural Resources, Goodwill, Earth911, Pennsylvania Resource Council, I Buy Different, EPA Envirofacts, Consumer Reports Greener Choices, Jackson Twp, and Green Energy Ohio. They have developed a Recycle and Reuse Guide for solid waste management. In that informative manual, for example, empty propane tanks are recommended for coordination with the retailers or source. Excess paint should be either completely used or mixed with sawdust until it hardens if it will no longer be used. There are many other procedures about how to properly dispose of excess paint. Held (2010) made the guide available for the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District. The generic procedures will be useful for all other districts. Household batteries like AAA, C, D that are rechargeable but old can be accepted by a business, e.g. Green Light, LLC without cost by simply calling their telephone number. A prepaid package for mailing is sent to the homeowner. If the battery is not rechargeable, the homeowner can ship it by paying the postage at a low cost of $0.10/lb. For automobile batteries, there are many businesses willing to accept its disposal. EPA Envirofacts also provides for a website (oaspub.epa.gov) that identifies the status of the location wherein homeowners would like to gather some information. If the location Jackson Township is selected, it can be more specific about the particular location. To appreciate the website tools, take Bennetts Mill Rd, Jackson Township for an example and a report about that location can be viewed. There is only one entity in charge of waste disposal facilities. That would be Betty Brite Cleaners located in County Line & Bennetts Mill Rd., Jackson, NJ 08527. The owner is Yoon Hyung Joong. Government agencies monitor such providers through compliance reports. For Jackson, NJ near Bennetts Mill Road, there are 14 facilities listed, thus, giving homeowners options where to dispose of their hazardous materials. The same Environmental Protection Agency in the USA educates the public about pollutants and specific issues pertaining to toxic materials or chemicals and pesticides. Since it cannot discuss all the possible sources of toxic wastes, EPA supplies plenty of links to available resources useful for research of anyone who wishes to know the details of chemical wastes. Some of the links are listed below: a. To discuss the effects of hazardous waste on health, EPA provided the link to  http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/hlthef/hapindex.html b. To clarify the issue of toxicity of chemical pollutants and the risk to the environment, EPA provided the link to http://www.epa.gov/actor/ . c. To enlighten people about drinking water contaminants, EPA has a website worth visiting at http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/index.cfm . d. To educate the people about the contents of Clean Air Act, the link EPA provided was http://www.epa.gov/oar/caa/caaa.txt It makes the environmental laws pertaining to toxic substance and pollution readily available to the public through its website. These two major laws, namely, the Pollution Prevention Act and Toxic Substance Control Act are duly supported with an abundance of information to help enforce and to facilitate compliance. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides not just ready information online but also assistance and monitoring. According to the EPA, Jackson Township Landfill got its waste materials from the municipal landfill activities many years ago. The site is located in Jackson Township’s nearby Lakehurst Avenue, within Ocean County, NJ. Its size is about 135 acres in the Pinelands. Homes surrounded the site. And the landfill itself was made of man-made sand at the time when Glidden Corporation used to have some ilmenite mining activities prior to 1972 when it was purchased by the government for purposes of dumping waste materials there. Ilemite is an iron ore of Titanium. It is black and opaque. Ilemite was extracted and 96% of the materials dug out were returned in the form of sand. The depth of mining operations reached 40 feet. When the property was utilized as landfill by the municipal government, they dumped 8,000 gallons of septic waste, sewage sludge, household refuse, construction debris, coffee waste materials. As early as the 1970s, EPA had reported that the liquid contaminants were mostly methylene chloride, a volatile substance. By 1977, surrounding homeowners complained of water contamination. Jackson Township Landfill was ordered closed by New Jersey’s Superior Court 32 year ago, in February 1980. For major steps were taken by the EPA to assess the health risks coming from Jackson Township Landfill. Experts first identified the hazardous materials. Their toxicity, concentration, and frequency of contamination were determined. Second, the extent of exposure, ways people got exposed, and the corresponding duration and frequency of exposure—all these were evaluated. Third, they analyzed what the toxic waste could do to humans exposed to the chemicals. Finally, risk of having certain diseases was quantified. Table 1 shows the result of analyzing the hazardous chemicals of the Jackson Township Landfill. As can be clearly seen, the dumpsite was rich in many kinds of contaminants on the soil level, sediment level, and the water level. Following these findings, many government agencies were organized to stop similar situations from happening and to manage the population towards achieving a healthier environment. Painful experiences taught government and the people difficult lesson about environmental protection. It is indeed a matter of life and death. Nobody wants slow death through diseases traceable to toxic wastes. References Held, D. J. (2010). Recycling & Reuse Guide: A Resident’s Guide to Reducing, Reusing, & Recycling.STW Solid Waste Management District. Jackson, NJ (2011, Sept. 14). Jackson Township Hazardopus Waste Program To Be Held Oct. 20. Jackson Township Family & Community Magazine. Retrieved from Jackson Township Recycling Station (2012). Items. Retrieved from < http://www.jacksonrecycling.org/items.html> NJ DOH (1993). Public Health Assessment: Jackson Township Landfill. CERCLIS NO. NJ980505283. December 13, 1993. Retrieved from < http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/pha.asp?docid=444&pg=0> Stilton, P. (2012, March 28, 2012). County Adds Rigid Plastics to Recycling Stable. Jackson Township Family & Community Magazine. Retrieved from. < http://www.jacksonnjonline.com/2012/03/28/county-adds-rigid-plastics-to-recycling-stable/32198/> Stein, J. (1987). Ayers v.Township of Jackson. The Medical Monitoring Remedy in Toxic Tort Cases. Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1987. Tang, Xiaoyan, Bornman, J. F. & van der Leun, J. (2007). Environmental Effects of Ozone Depletion and Its Interactions with Climate Change: An Assessment. The Environmental Effects: Assessment Panel Report 2006. UN Environment Programme. Table 1 – Analysis of Contaminants in the Jackson Township Landfill (Source: EPA, September 26,1994. EPA Superfund: Record of Decision. Jackson Township Landfill. Jackson Township, NJ). Read More