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The need for metal make mining long closed dumps and landfills a viable possibility when the cost of recovering is competitive with traditional mining and extraction. The term ‘dump’ is what was called that stinking, rat infested place where all things were thrown away. That was yesterday. Tomorrow dumps and landfills will be an economic opportunity.
Excellent examples are the many small towns in New England. They participated in the industrial expansion and have buried treasure galore. Let’s call our example Old Town.
- Seventeen trains per day came through Old Town. At midnight people walked in the street because the sidewalk was too crowded. Old Town was a thriving community
- A manufacturing super star guaranteeing that large amounts of metal are in its landfill for the taking. There will be found: tools, manufactured and household goods, swarf, and even machine tools. All the things thrown away by a manufacturing society
- In 1955, a flood ravaged the city. All the debris went to the then dump
- Old Town’s excellent roads can handle heavy equipment and provide easy access to the services of hazardous waste handling, recycling, financial services, communications, and mail
- Skilled and unskilled labor, jobbers, mechanics, trucks, and contractors are readily available locally
The first piece of equipment to be installed is a solar powered water analyzing equipment. This will notify local politicians and state regulators when effluent needs to be sent offsite for cleanup. Your office trailer contains computers, wireless Internet, and a packaging and shipping area. Your webmaster maintains an up-to-the-minute blog for sales of recovered items and data for town and state officials. To see the site from above, you use drones with high definition video cameras. Video is available online.
First to arrive is a local tree crew. They will remove trees and brush growing on the landfill site. Next, your archaeologists use underground imaging to develop a three-dimensional map of the ‘gold layer.’
When the mapping is complete, your backhoe operator removes the overburden. It’s trucked off site for later reuse. In the meantime, the metal separator and other equipment used to harvest the site arrive.Harvesting Begins
Aluminum, brass, copper, iron, steel, titanium, industrial waste, and rejected parts emerge. In a machine using magnetic fields, it separates metals from nonmetals. Here aluminum, brass, copper, iron, steel, titanium, industrial waste, and rejected parts emerge. You examine the non-metals to recover jewelry, antiques, bottles, glassware, toys, and more. You sell these items online and ship them across the globe.
You find:
• A Leica camera, its case is ruined but the camera is saleable
• A machinist’s tool box filled with tools
• A set of Hummel figurines
• Assorted coins
• Wrist and pocket watches
• Three diamond engagement rings elicit comments about thunderstruck suitors searching in the stinking garbage
• A woman’s full-length coat with an exquisite platinum broach pinned to its ruined lapel
• A Parker shotgun with a cracked stock
• A beaten up, pedal powered, child’s bulldozer that once was yellow. It becomes yours for a couple of bottles of beer, as another father once paid for it. Your children love it.
Teachers use the company website to teach New England’s rich industrial history. Older adults view it to reminisce about the recovered items. You listen closely to their stories.
Six months later, the job is complete. You’ve made money, The town made money. The jobbers made money. You refill, level, and plant grass on the excavation. It can be used for an industrial park or athletic field. Your solar-powered water testing facility is online and uploading data to the net. Smiles all around.
About the Author
Wayne A. English is the author of five books, numerous articles, and posts online and in print. He is locally, nationally, and internationally published, including publications in The Futurist. See WayneAEnglish.com. He loved that yellow bulldozer.