One of the most important components of the overall process, landfill transfer stations actually have quite a varied and interesting history in the field of waste management.

What Is a Landfill Transfer Station?

Just like its name implies, a landfill transfer station is a place where waste is transferred.  To break it down further, this type of transfer station is a processing site – sometimes a building, but often simply a site where waste is delivered.  At the station, municipal waste will be sorted or baled so that it can be sent to a new place for disposal (such as by incineration), recycling, or for treatment (as with hazardous waste).  Sometimes, however, this waste is simply taken to a landfill.  Regardless, landfill transfer stations are an enormously important part of the modern waste removal process.

A Short History of the Landfill Transfer Station

The landfill transfer station fits into a longer, richer history of waste management in the United States.  Where the history of these stations truly begins, though, is with the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965.  Prior to this act, cities and towns all over the United States were disposing of their trash by incinerating it.  However, unlike with modern day waste incineration, there was no mitigation of the resulting pollution.  At the time, waste was simply being burned in the open air.

Congress passed the Solid Waste Disposal Act as an amendment to the Clean Air Act.  Waste disposal was then federally required to be far more environmentally sound than ever before.  Household, industrial, commercial, and municipal waste needed new disposal techniques.  That was where the transfer station came in.

Waste transfer stations were introduced as a middle point for the new solid waste management system that cropped up in response to the Solid Waste Disposal Act.  These began as large warehouse buildings where waste could be packaged and then transported to landfills or recycling centers.

Why Do We Need Landfill Transfer Stations?

With landfill transfer stations in place, the waste management process is streamlined.  These waste transfer stations help communities save money and reduce the environmental footprint of waste collection and disposal companies.  This is because the purpose of landfill transfer stations is to combine several individual waste collection loads into much larger shipments.  That way, labor and transport-related waste costs for communities are greatly reduced.

In addition to cutting costs, landfill transfer stations play a huge role in reducing the overall environmental impact of the waste disposal and management system in the United States.  They do this by lowering the need for extensive transportation.  Instead of having multiple small shipments going on a trek to a faraway location, these small shipments go to a closer, centralized station, where waste is sorted and consolidated to be sent off to landfills, disposal sites, and recycling centers.  In this way, these waste transfer centers ultimately reduce the total number of vehicular trips to and from each site.  This also decreases the overall impact of trucks that travel between disposal sites.

Landfill transfer centers also have benefits for workers.  For example, waste haulers are now able to cut down on their travel times to distant landfills and recycling centers.  Additionally, landfill transfer centers improve the efficiency of waste sorting and carrying.  Since the implementation of landfill transfer centers, waste haulers are now able to collect more waste in a much shorter time than before.  Waste disposal and recycling promises to become even more streamlined in the future.

What Type of Equipment Is Used in a Landfill Transfer Station? 

There are a number of different kinds of equipment used in a landfill transfer station, and each type serves a different purpose.  Some equipment is for sorting, some is for compacting, and other equipment is for transporting.  Here are just a few examples of equipment types used in waste transfer stations.

Scrap Handlers

Just as the title implies, these enormous machines are designed to handle a lot of scrap metal at once.  Scrap handlers specialize in dealing with enormous amounts of material, including scrap metal and even new steel, and are important for sorting, stacking, and loading mixed scrap.  They can carry scrap metal to melting pots at steel plants, where the metal can be recycled.

Trash Bin Compactors

These machines also help reduce the overall environmental impact of trash collection.  Trash bin compactors compress solid waste to increase overall capacity, meaning that they can be emptied less often.  The resultant cost savings can be seen in labor, maintenance, and fuel expenses.

Waste Grapples

Another way to increase the efficiency of transfer stations, the use of grapples is great for picking up materials without tainting them with dirt.  These machines are designed to close around waste without also digging into the surrounding soil, reducing overall contamination of materials.

Landfill Compactors

A landfill compactor is both similar to and different from a trash bin compactor.  This is because landfill compactors also work to compress solid waste, but they do this through a process of shredding, tearing, and then pressing together the items in the waste stream.  This way, the trash will take up minimal airspace in a landfill.  Landfill compactors also evenly spread waste so that the landfill is properly layered.

Tire Recycling Machines

These machines are designed to process tires for both trucks and automobiles so that they can be recycled.  Tire recycling equipment shreds the rubber and separates it from the steel tire wire so that all the components can be sent to recycling centers.

Fabric Structures

These are huge structures made of steel tubing and fabric in which much of the processing at waste transfer stations takes place.  Fabric structures are ideal for waste processing because they are wide open and do not have exposed beams or internal columns that would otherwise interfere with machinery such as forklifts or conveyors.  They also allow lots of natural light into the processing space while shielding the solid waste decontamination or management process from adverse weather.

You can see all landfill and transfer equipment here.