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Photo Credit: Climatex

Although we all promote the idea of reducing the use of our landfills, in some parts of the world, this just isn’t feasible. The process of ‘Phytocapping’ was designed by Australian scientists as a method to reduce the release of the greenhouse gases, methane and carbon dioxide. Phytocapping is as simple as adding a layer of top soil and growing specific trees and plants on top of a landfill.

This is how this works; organic matter that is buried in the landfill will degrade quickly once the rain water finds it! Typically the usual combatants to this process are to place a layer of clay over the top of the landfill or to install a methane trap system. The problem with the clay is that in arid temperatures the clay will dry and crack and water will come in contact with the organic matter; the methane traps are just expensive! Phytocapping is less expensive, more efficient and is advantageous to the planet. Not only will this process reduce the methane emissions up to 5 times greater than a ‘bare’ landfill, but will provide a habitat for a multitude of species and perhaps even lumber for neighboring communities!

The simplest solutions are to let Mother Nature do, what Mother Nature does, someday maybe us humans will get that!

~Wind

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