Technical FAQ: Does the promise of BioMoGo s biodegradation in landfill conditions really matter?
The answer, in short: • It has been well established that active anaerobic biodegradation has been occurring in most landfills since the 1970s. • Anaerobic biodegradation can actually produce useful byproducts, a property recognized by many European Union countries. • Anaerobic biodegradation improves potential effects of landfill leachates. More info: Landfills typically contain enough moisture and provide a morphologically and metabolically diverse environment to allow biodegradation to occur (Palmisano and Barlaz, Microbiology of Solid Waste 1996, p. 11; Archer and Peck 1989). Studies of landfill leachates have also shown the presence of a metabolically diverse anaerobic microbial flora (Beeman and Suflita 1987) in sufficient amounts to actively mineralize polymeric food sources (Barlaz et al.1992). This is demonstrated in practice by the waste gas trapping systems that all landfills include, which wouldn’t be required if biodegradation were not readily occurring (Ham et al. 1979).
