The National Geographic documentary
America’s Largest Mega Dump: Garbage Mountain attempts to address these last three points—biodegradation, contamination, and space. The documentary explains that the United States produces the most amount of garbage per person and utilizes the Puente Hills Landfill, one of the largest in the country, to illustrate the extensive measures undertaken to protect the public from the aftereffects of our trash. As
stated by the documentary, “it's up to landfills to make the bulk of this mega-mess disappear" in seconds.
The
bulldozers—affectionately called “dozers”—are “the Michelangelos of garbage as they sculpt and form the trash.” Garbage Mountain glorifies the sanitary, scientific, and technological organization supporting our modern waste management system. This
efficient landfill accepts 12,000 tons of garbage per week and shows minimal evidence of the miles of trash hidden beneath the tightly compacted mountains.
The documentary rebuffs every worry that arises when considering the current state of garbage disposal: decomposition, repleted landfills, and contamination. Even though we now know that
trash does not decompose when compacted in a landfill, the documentary states that we have excellent transfer stations and recycling centers that minimize the amount of recyclables that wind up in landfills. Christmas trees and green waste can be reused for mulch and the recycling of cardboard boxes saves trees in our forests. The documentary explains that reuse and repurposing gives these items a second life and saves primary materials. While it is true that recycling does help reduce the amount of trash, no amount of recycling will overcome the amount of trash produced (Leondard). The toxic leachate that could contaminate the ground and drinking water can be treated to produce clean water. The dangerous methane gas building up under layers of garbage can be harnessed to create energy that can fuel our cars.
While the Puente Hills landfill was once America’s largest landfill, in 2012 it reached capacity. Thelma Gutierrez and George Webster of CNN
write that “Over 150 meters of garbage has risen from the ground since the area became a designated dumping site in 1957,” but now this mountain of garbage has reaching its peak and is experiencing a second life: like other landfills before it, Puente Hills will be transformed into a community park. The prospect of an open, free-use space for the community is alluring, but landfill employees admit the repletion of a landfill is a serious problem. They claim we have nowhere to house our trash in the crowded urban environment and suggest that we build a railway to the California desert to bury it far removed from the city. Unfortunately, that solution was deemed too expensive and inefficient. As of now, all the trash previously sent to Puente Hills is routed to other local landfills in Orange and Los Angeles Counties.