Dive Brief:

• According to a report issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the landfills in the northwest region of the state of Illinois are reaching capacity sooner rather than later.
• If there are no expansions, the lifespans of the sites studied will hit capacity in 14 to 31 years.
• The region studied also has the most available land for potential expansion, so if the decision is made to increase the capacity at the landfills through expansion, the space is available.

Dive Insight:

In 2013, the state of Florida considered increasing the capacity of its landfills by "going up." Using the available airspace at the sites would mean the landfills could continue to accept waste without the need for massive expansion projects. A senior fellow for the Property and Environment Research Center found that only 10 square miles of land would be needed to store enough waste until 2100 if the waste was piled 255 feet high.