Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Landfills census and projection 
Name: Sally Farag
Status: Other
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
How many landfills are in the United States and by what year will they close down?


Replies:
I have an interest in this question because I believe there is a chance to make a buck by buying old landfills and mining them to recover recyclable materials. I have not come across a directory of landfills yet, but I have not been looking very hard either. I guess there is probably one landfill for every town of 5,000 people so just dividing the United States population (260 million) by 5,000 there may be as many as 52,000 landfills. That may be an over estimate since most people live in big cities served by just a few giant landfills. If you need a more precise answer, I would suggest contacting the Environmental Protection Agency to see if they maintain a catalogue or directory of United States landfills.

You might look for this in your library or ask the librarian to do an inter- library loan:

Facts on Domestic Waste and Industrial Pollutants, by Hugh Johnstone, 1990

Mortis


Click here to return to the Environmental Science

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory