35. An Industrial Waste Landfill in A Communities Backyard

Julie Griffin and Julie Owen, are residents in Ringgold, VA where they have an industrial, open air landfill in their backyards. The landfill is owned by First Piedmont where they created the landfill after the community had already existed there for 50+ years. The residents have to look at that mess every time they come out of their houses’ and deal with the odor from it 24 hours a day. There is no fence around it so there is high risk with children and pets in this residential area, not to mention what is in the air and water from it. 

They are a chapter of BREDL called, Coalition for a Clean Dan River Region, where they are taking a stand to protect their family, homes and the air and water that we all depend on!

Industrial landfills have industrial waste in them which can contain metals, glass, asphalt, and more. Landfills produced gasses such as methane, carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and non methane organic compounds. Not to mention, they produce leachate which is a liquid produced by landfill sites, contaminating nearby water sources, which further damages the ecosystems.

I would highly suggest going to their facebook page “Save our rural community” to see pictures of the  landfill and what they have to deal with daily. 

Contact and connect with Julie Owens and Julie Griffin: julieo495.33@gmail.com 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/971369563328746/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=1599197337212629 

Information about damage of landfills: https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/04/15/hidden-damage-landfills 

https://www.epa.gov/landfills/industrial-and-construction-and-demolition-cd-landfills