PROBLEM MEMORANDUM
To: Prof. Dr. Veysel Eroglu, Republic of Turkey Minister of Environment and Forestry
From: Burcu Polat Bora
Re: Increasing Landfill Gas Diffusion in Turkey
Date: September 9, 2014
Increasing Landfill Gas Diffusion in Turkey
An environmental problem has been affecting adversely the daily life of inhabitants
residing mostly in metropolitan regions of Turkey where there is a rapid population
growth. While fulfilling duties in collecting and transporting is managed by the
municipalities well, the required level of activity and attention in disposal and recycling
is inadequate. (Waste Management, 2010-11)
Waste management operation is conducted on a short-term basis, hinged on an
unsustainable solution where most of the waste is sorted on site, gets transported to the
closest transfer stations and driven to unsanitary landfill sites. Disorganizedly waste’s
storage causes water and groundwater contamination, insect swarming, spread of
objectionable odor, visual pollution and increase of germ-carriers through animals. (Boz,
2007) In addition to all these negative impacts of the waste situated in landfill sites;
another harmful output is landfill gas which is generated during the natural process of
bacterial decomposition of organic material contained in solid waste landfills. Landfill
gas is about 40-60% methane, which is 21 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.
Methane is “a short-lived climate pollutant with significant warming potential”, which
“…over a 20 year period, one ton of it (methane) causes 72 times more warming than one
ton of carbon dioxide” (Direct Global Warming Potentials, 2007).
Methane gas and carbon dioxide are the major outputs of landfill waste. If landfill gas is
collected in an enclosed space, it poses an asphyxiation hazard at concentrations high
enough to create an oxygen-deficient environment. Oxygen-deficient environment is
defined as less than 19.5% oxygen by volume by The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA). Normal conditions are those where 21% oxygen is contained in
ambient air by volume. Health effects engaged with oxygen-deficient environments are
displayed in the below table.
Health Effects from Oxygen-deficient Environments
Oxygen
Concent
Health Effects
ration
21%
Normal ambient air oxygen concentration
17%
14% to
16%
6% to
10%
Less than
6%
Deteriorated night vision (not noticeable until a normal oxygen
concentration is restored), increased breathing volume, and accelerated
heartbeat
Increased breathing volume, accelerated heartbeat, very poor muscular
coordination, rapid fatigue, and intermittent respiration
Nausea, vomiting, inability to perform, and unconsciousness
Spasmatic breathing, convulsive movements, and death in minutes
Source: OSHA n.d.b
The adverse impacts of landfill gas diffusion are not only continuous heath related issues,
but also accidents due to explosion of methane gas or movement of solid mass, which
causes death in some cases. We already have had several accidents that occurred as a
consequence of not being able to contain the methane gas in the past. For instance in one
of the metropolitan cities of Turkey, Istanbul, which is one of the most populated, two
incidents unveiled the need for pressing precautions at landfill waste sites. In April of
1995 methane gas explosion cost several lives at the Umraniye dump. In the following
year at another open dump, Kemerburgaz solid waste slid down on to the road nearby,
which imposed financial burden to the county. (Sustainable Solid Waste Management in
the Southern Black Sea Region, 1999)
In order to avoid such circumstances legislations have been reviewed by the authorized
bodies and fundamentally have focused on achieving waste recovery. In year 2003 a
licensing process was developed for private businesses to separate and recycle waste,
however the greater part of the waste is still dumped in landfill sites, which are located
very close to the residential areas. Even today, in year 2014 same problems have been
occurring in different cities of the country. In August 2014, fire broke out and affected
nearby towns because of methane gas compression at the Finike open dumpsite.
(Finike’de Metan Gazi Patlamasi, 2014)
If action is not taken immediately to stop particularly methane diffusion due to open
dumps in different locations, the consequences may escalate in a way that it will be too
late to fix.
I appreciate your attention to this concern and I offer my support to you and your staff to
find a prompt solution to the ongoing issue influencing the environment.