What problems can Landfill Mining solve?

Landfill Waste Pollution Breaches

Landfill breaches are a big problem all over the world, but there are specific breaches all over the UK, notable examples are Lynemouth Beach and Tilbury which are often covered in the news. Mining the landfill sites will remove this waste and prevent the toxic pollution to our waterways.

Minerals and Rare Earth Metals

Landfills from pre-1980's have so many precious metals in them, such as copper, lead, cobalt, lithium, aluminium, gold, silver, steel. These weren't considered worth recovering in the past, but now they're worth quite a lot. These are needed for much of the technology we use now, and in the future.

Reduce Methane Emissions

Old Landfill sites create methane for decades after they were last used. This occurs due to anaerobic digestion of compostable material, so things like food waste, wood, and natural fibres. As the landfill is so compacted, oxygen can't break this down, and the bacteria instead create methane which leaks out. Disturbing landfills and getting oxygen in prevents this happening.

Why Landfill Mining won't happen

For the majority of countries in the EU, UK and North America

Risks outweigh benefits for Business

There is plenty of evidence that states that a landfill site is very valuable, estimates are that an average pre-1980's landfill site could be worth as much as £500 million. But if you start mining a landfill, ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT IS NOW YOUR PROBLEM. If you find 100 tons of copper, that's great - if you find 100 tons of asbestos or cyanide (or worse!), that's an expensive problem. The keeping of records were poor at best for pre-1980 landfills, meaning there is no good record of what is in a site. Would you risk a large bill for opening up a landfill site? Most businesses and investors won't.
On top of this, anything that can't be recycled, or isn't already inert (soil, rocks, wood etc.) needs to be re-landfilled. This could incur an additional landfill tax which pushes the price up, especially if there is a lot of plastics, rubber and synthetic material.

There is a long wait for permits and licences

There a few examples of Councils dealing with breached historic landfill sites in the UK, the most recent and notable one being Lynemouth and Northumberland County Council. The permits and licences have taken around 3 years to be granted. That is for a council. For a business it is possible it could take longer. The work on Lynemouth Beach is looking to start possibly Autumn 2023 and be finished by Autumn 2024 - this is the closest thing to landfill mining occurring in the UK to date, so one to keep an eye on.
There is some more information about this on the Resources page

Government assistance or intervention is required

Due to the potentially hazardous nature of landfill mining and the high risks to the financial viability of any business involved, the Government needs to be actively involved in the clean up. If they aren't the first company who tries, and finds a large and unexpected bill from something hazardous, would fail, taking the industry with it.

The Government could help but, at least in the UK, this is very unlikely. If there was help dealing with the hazardous products, it would stop them leaking into our waterways, and allow businesses to landfill mine effectively. But at that point, it is nationalising losses and privatising profits, at which point it would be more cost effective for the Government to deal with the 1,200+ breached landfills themselves and sell the minerals themselves.

Get in Touch

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We would love to help if you have a better solution, or other ideas for Landfill Mining. However we are no longer actively involved in this as a non-profit organisation, and we hope that the information provided on this website is of some help

The Journey doesn't end here, it just heads in a different direction

Our Founder Andrew Jenkins has started Rubbish Energy to help combat climate change and the challenges of waste. If you want to connect with him, or follow the new Company, the best way to get in touch is on LinkedIn

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