ROOM AT THE TABLE - Intersight - University at Buffalo

these private businesses, including Modern Disposal, Waste Management
Inc., and Allied Waste Services/BFI.
WASTE STORAGE
Upon collecting the garbage, trucks operating under either Modern
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for waste processing and packaging. Four transfer stations are located within
Erie County, in the municipalities of Buffalo, Hamburg, Cheektowaga and
Depew. The Chautauqua County transfer station also services Erie County. 3
Municipal solid waste at the Erie County transfer stations is separated for
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in Chafee (Erie County) (See Figure 5.1). Large collection trucks carry the
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bulldozers and compacted as much as possible. In 2009, 61.07 percent of
total municipal solid waste (MSW) for Erie County, or 441,000 tons, of
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seen as an outdated and often dangerous mode of waste storage. Despite
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by the storage process sometimes explode and degraded waste layers
below the garbage have an increasing risk of leaking pollutants into the
water table. 5 Alternative methods create environmentally­superior modes of
management, with an economically­advantageous result.
B. Alternative Food Disposal Methods
COMPOSTING
Composting is the biochemical process of converting organic
materials into nutrient­rich materials commonly used to fertilize soil. There
56
Figure 5.1 – Erie County Disposal Network
(Source: Authors)