It’s not fun to think about landfills. When we drag our trash out to the curb or chuck it into a dumpster, it’s far easier to adopt an out of sight, out of mind mentality and never think about it again.

But the reality is, the trash has to go somewhere. In other words, despite how important conservation, reducing waste, and recycling are, there will always be a need for landfills. Sometimes we’re so focused on reducing our own environmental footprint that we overlook the hard work that goes into safely storing all that garbage.

Engineer breaks down ‘hidden’ science of landfills

There’s more to it than just dumping trash in a big hole in the ground.

“You probably don’t think much about where you trash goes, and that’s kind of the point of the solid waste industry,” says Grady Hillhouse, an author, civil engineer, and science communicator. He’s also the man behind the wildly popular YouTube channel Practical Engineering. “To make sure you have the ability to throw something away without it having a serious negative consequence on the environment or public health.”

Early landfills, prior to the 1970s, basically were holes in the ground. But Hillhouse explains that federal regulations in the ’70s and ’80s sought to clean things up, which resulted in some pretty amazing science.

He breaks it........

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