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The PCB-contaminated material was eventually collected and buried in a landfill in Warren County, but citizens' opposition, including large public demonstrations, exposed the dangers of toxic waste, the fallibility of landfills than in use, and EPA regulations allowing landfills to be built on marginal, but politically acceptable sites.
Some types of Lithium-ion batteries such as NMC contain metals such as nickel, manganese and cobalt, which are toxic and can contaminate water supplies and ecosystems if they leach out of landfills. [17] Additionally, fires in landfills or battery-recycling facilities have been attributed to inappropriate disposal of lithium-ion batteries. [18]
There is also the danger that the landfill's membrane, a barrier placed under most modern landfills to prevent contamination of the underlying ground, will be destroyed or penetrated by the fire itself. Normally this liner prevents harmful liquids contained within the landfill from escaping into the groundwater and nearby streams.
The U.S. EPA orders Chiquita Canyon landfill to take immediate action to safeguard the public. Meanwhile, nearby residents have filed suit to close the facility.
The landfill property, which is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, covers about 200 acres and is surrounded by agriculture and commercial businesses.
As an underground fire burns deep within Chiquita Canyon Landfill, air regulators are raising alarms over the possible spread of toxic vapors.
"In terms of hazardous waste, a landfill is defined as a disposal facility or part of a facility where hazardous waste is placed in or on land and which is not a pile, a land treatment facility, a surface impoundment, an underground injection well, a salt dome formation, a salt bed formation, an underground mine, a cave, or a corrective action ...
America’s landfills—and the environmental havoc they create—are sizable. There are roughly 1,200 landfills currently in operation, and on average, each one takes up about 600 acres of land ...