Hurricane cleanup and landfill debris issues
If you have never experienced a hurricane, you can’t imagine the difficulties involved in the aftermath. Many people lose everything, largely because of the flooding a major storm brings. Mountains of debris soon appear at residential curbsides, and the majority of that waste will eventually end up in landfills. But landfills beset by hurricanes come with their own unique set of problems.
Hurricane Harvey
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and Louisiana as a Category 4 storm. Much of Houston was affected by this intense tropical cyclone. The flooding created a nightmare for many residents who lost everything. In the coming days, the piles of debris outside their homes included items like furniture, mattresses, rugs, appliances, books and clothing as well as flooring and drywall. In terms of cleanup cost, officials estimated that the total would come to more than $2 billion, making Harvey an even more expensive storm than Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in August 2005.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton
Managing the effects of one major hurricane per season is one thing. Dealing with the aftermath of two such storms within a matter of days is like attempting a never-ending climb up an impossibly high mountain.
Rapid removal
Officials warned homeowners that anything destroyed by flooding must be removed from the premises as quickly as possible, porous materials, especially. First, disease can easily spread due to contaminated water, and second, mold will form, which is another serious health issue.
In Houston, homeowners were instructed to separate debris into six piles:
- Building materials and furniture
- Regular trash like food and paper products
- Hazardous waste such as cleaning materials and batteries
- Large appliances
- Yard waste
- Electronics
In the Tampa Bay area following Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the request was for separating debris into three different types: household waste, vegetation and large appliances. Residents were instructed to keep these piles off streets and sidewalks and away from fire hydrants.
Recycling issues
The recycling process is notably missing from officials’ instructions to separate debris. The reason? Items in water, especially contaminated water, are difficult to recycle. The officials realize that people don’t always follow instructions. Therefore, appliances and electronics that could have been recycled are frequently allowed to mix in with other kinds of debris, often taking away their eligibility because of the exposure to contaminants.
Of course, properly sorting the important parts of a person’s life is not at the top of one’s mind in the wake of a major hurricane, and that is understandable. The fact is that whether it is responsibly sorted or not, most of the hurricane debris ends up in landfills.
Hurricane-related landfill problems
In the coming months, all sorts of debris will be trucked to landfills—household furnishings, pieces of buildings, roof tiles, fences, autos—everything Helena and Milton destroyed. So how do major storms affect the landfills themselves? Does a hurricane scatter waste everywhere?
The short answer is no. All landfill waste is covered with several inches of soil, normally every week, a covering that storms can’t penetrate. However, a major storm could trigger other problems. Landfills have gas collection systems to keep methane from escaping into the atmosphere and drainage systems that collect contaminated liquid and keep it from polluting water sources. These systems could be damaged during a hurricane, and they must become operational again as quickly as possible.
The Southeast County Landfill near Tampa provides an example of a potential methane issue. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this landfill emitted some 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide or CO2 in 2022. The agency estimates, however, that gas collection systems are only about 75% effective. Therefore, if this landfill’s system were to become inoperable for even a 24-hour period, the result would be an escape of methane equivalent to the collective emissions of more than 65,000 autos.
Carrying on
Hurricane season officially ends on November 30, but managing the destruction from major storms like Helene and Milton will take months if not years. State and federal workers, individual volunteers and personnel from charity organizations among many others pitch in to help. At Urban E-Recycling, we will continue to assist customers with the proper disposal of their laptops, cellphones and other devices. Hurricanes aside, we can at least prevent certain e-recyclables from ending up in landfills. Meanwhile, we will join in the hurricane cleanup effort to help facilitate a return to normalcy in our lives.
Mother Nature doesn’t want your old computers but we do.
