Landfill mining: urban waste resources for recycling?

Landfill mining is superficially attractive.   But before we get bombarded by articles expounding the virtues of landfill mining, let me burst a few bubbles. 

The idealistic wax enthusiastic about the amount of metal and plastic in landfills across the country.  In theory if we could get at these resources, we would have a bonanza.  But can we?

I once stripped the soil cover off a landfill in Los Angeles as part of the construction of an engineered soil cover.  The landfill is the Operating Industries Inc. (OII) landfill and admittedly is a Superfund site.  But it is big and old and contains vast quantities of paper, metal, and plastic.  I saw intact newspapers from the fifties.  I saw complete fridges and stoves coming out as we stripped the cover and exposed the waste.  We concluded that the plastic is what held the waste intact against earthquakes at an amazing 1.4 horizontal to 1.0 vertical side slope nearly 300-ft high. 

We barely scraped the surface of this monster of “resources.”  But is was dirty and ugly work.  Vapors of toxic chemicals came out so fast that we rushed for gas masks.  The oil oozed at us and the ashes of past burnt rubbish covered everthing in site.  We were glad to quickly cover up this mess.  I hate to think what would be involved in taking this out and sorting it for paper, plastic, and metals.

Then there is one corner where the cover kept settling.  The waste deep down is “on fire.”  At least it is smoldering away or at the very least undergoing expedited thermal degradation.  That is why it is settling far faster than the average one foot a year that the rest of the landfill is settling.  Imagine digging into that hot zone of smoldering waste.  It would burst into flames and the world would become a hell on earth. 

Thus on the basis of this one bad/good example, I conclude landfill mining is a figment of fire-fed imagination.  Maybe there is an old landfill somewhere that is clean and cool, and you can make money investing in mining it.  But I warn you to be very careful before you get carried away by this crazy idea and invest money in new ventures to mine urban landfill resources.