When you say dump, I say landfill.
Adam Jochelson, P. E.
Last month, we talked about several indicators that you might be a Landfill Engineer. Well, I saved one symptom for its own spotlight: the Dump-Landfill Reflex. Here’s how you know if you have the Dump-Landfill Reflex—every time you hear someone say something like, “I went down to the dump, the other day,” you immediately feel a strong urge to butt in and say, “You mean the landfill.” In some cases, the reflex is so powerful that you just can’t stop yourself.
It’s Not a Dump!
I have the Dump-Landfill Reflex; I’ve got it bad. Anyone who’s ever said dump around me can attest to that. Some people I know do it on purpose. Take my friend Mark1, for example—he deliberately uses the word dump in my presence because he knows it annoys me. I stop him immediately with a blurted out, “Landfill!” usually followed by a punch in the arm. He knows it’s coming … and he deserves it. He knows that, too.
To be fair, there are some appropriate times to call a place the dump. I can think of two:
- If you’re at one the many garbage sites in developing nations (outside Europe and North America) that are, in fact, open dumps, or
- If you’re at one of the 10 locations of The Dump®, a discount furniture outlet, along America’s eastern seaboard and the southwest.
So unless, you happen to be in one of those places, you are at a landfill, not a dump.
Some may wonder why I take this so seriously. Honestly, I doubt that the speaker means to insult me, and it is, after all, just a word. But to me, it’s more than a matter of simple semantics. And the intent is irrelevant. If you listen carefully to people’s word choices you can gather clues about their attitudes. When people call my workplace a landfill, it tells me that they appreciate the level of planning and effort that goes into its construction and operation. When they label it a dump … well, I probably don’t have to tell you what they’re thinking. And like it or not, perceptions and attitudes have a significant influence on a facility’s long-term status.
A Little Respect
Ironically, sometimes my own colleagues are the worst offenders. “I work at the dump,” I’ve heard my coworkers say more times than I can bear to remember. I will never understand that. It makes me want to shake them and ask them to think about what they’re saying, to take some pride in their work, even if no one else does.
We’ve come a long way in the landfill industry here in America from the old days when most disposal sites were basically dumps. Whenever I give landfill tours, I make sure that everyone knows the rule number one is to never call the place a dump. Invariably, the overwhelming majority of any tour group leaves with an unexpected appreciation for the landfill’s level of complexity and sophistication. They’re always surprised by amount of thought and effort that goes into its development and operation. But most of all they come away with a newfound respect for a facility to which they had never before given much thought, if any.
When they’ll listen to me, I remind my coworkers that their behavior and attitudes can undermine that respect. Seriously, if I don’t appreciate the value of my workplace, why should anybody else. “Be proud of our landfill,” I tell them, “and make every effort to leave a legacy worth remembering!”
Pride > Love
Before my time with GeoShack, I spent every day of nearly 10 years working to make McCommas Bluff Landfill the best facility that it could be. I loved my job—and my landfill—and it showed. Conversations about work included references to “my landfill.” But more important than my fondness for my work is that I took pride in what I did. I’ve heard many say that loving your work is the key to success. I don’t agree with that. I will admit that loving your job helps, but I don’t believe it’s a requirement. I am a firm believer that when it comes to performance on the job, pride is much more important than love. Trust me, I’ve had plenty of jobs that I didn’t love, but I managed to do well at all of them because, without exception, I took pride in whatever I was doing. And there’s one simple reason why: I wanted my efforts to produce something that would shine a positive light on me.
These days, most Americans have had, or will have, many different kinds of jobs, but they will all have at least one thing in common in that any job will have some kind of discernible output—whether it be manufactured products, field reports, pieces of software code, satisfied customers, works of art, neatly trimmed lawns or any number of other items. My experience indicates that the quality of that output is directly proportional to the amount of pride the producers take in the work they do. And when your output depends on the efforts of an entire team, if just one contributor disregards the quality of his or her part, it can sink the whole ship.
Landfills are prime examples. Maintaining a high quality facility requires contributions from team members as varied as cashiers, laborers, managers, engineers and operators. Everyone’s contribution is important, and poor performance from any of them can produce disastrous results. This is why I take it so seriously.
When you walk into a place thinking it’s a dump, you will probably see what you expect. It’s even worse when the people who work there think the same thing. I’ve always taken pride in my work, but I am especially proud of my landfill—I still think of McCommas Bluff that way even though I’ve been gone almost four years.
So, yeah, I take it personally if you call it a dump. As far as I’m concerned, everyone who manages garbage for a living should have the Dump-Landfill Reflex.
Adam Jochelson, P. E., is a Landfill Engineer and Facility Specialist working for GeoShack, Inc., where he promotes the application of cutting edge technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of landfill operations. Adam built his knowledge and techniques over a nine-year period as the on-site engineer at McCommas Bluff Landfill in Dallas, TX. His unique experiences in engineering and other fields have combined to create an exceptional understanding of the various challenges inherent in landfill planning, design, and operations. Send comments or questions to Adam at [email protected] or call him at (972) 342-3055.
Note
- I may or may not have changed Mark’s name to protect his privacy. But if I did, it’s only because I’m a nice guy. He totally doesn’t deserve it.
Sidebar
Land·fill En·gi·neer [land-fil en-juh-neer]
noun an environmental engineer who specializes in the design, management, planning, and development, of solid waste management facilities; a unique combination of engineer, surveyor, data analyst, computer programmer, construction worker, manager, teacher, writer, conservationist, and experimenter.