Agenda - Council - 06/23/1981 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

13 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HAZARDS Environmental health hazards are factOrS that may be detrimental to health, safety and welfare. Improper disposal of solid waste may result in surface and/or groundwater pollution, poisonous air emissions or occupational accidentS. The U.S. Congress and the Minnesota Legislature have determined that open burning and open dumping of solid waste threaten public health, safety and welfare, and have passed laws to prohibit such practices. State or federal regulations do not prohibit disposal of solid waste by controlled incineration, sanitary landfilling, lagooning and land- spreading. Safer waste handling and disposal techniques have signif- icantly decreased the risks of immediate or direct environmental contamination from solid waste. However, the long-term effects of past and present land disposal practices have not been clearly identi- fied. Preliminary studies indicate that without proper control meas- ures, landfilling may not provide sufficient protection from methane gas and leachate (water contaminated as it flows through solid waste). pUBLIC COST The United States consumes a disproportionate share of the world's raw materials. If this continues, the waste from production and con- sumption will continue to grow as well. Suitable land for disposal will becomes less available and more costly. Development costs for disposal sites will be higher, because of political and social difficulties in locating new sites and increasing pollution control requirements. Collection and disposal costs will rise as haul distances and land costs increase. All these costs are borne by the public in service charges. The public pays for disposal of both the wastes it discards and the wastes of manufacturers through the price of productS. Finally, in the absence of adequate liability protection for disposal facilities, the public pays for the costs resulting from environmental contamination.