Landfill Gas Collection Operator

Because they’re filled with things that have been discarded, tossed, thrown away, and used, landfills to most people seem barren, like graveyards where refuse goes to die. In reality, however, landfills aren’t dead; they’re very much alive. And nobody knows that better than a Landfill Gas Collection Operator.

It’s simple: If you’ve ever wondered why landfills smell so bad, it’s because the waste inside them (dumped by a Garbage Collector) is being broken down and eaten by hungry bacteria, which produce noxious gas — methane and carbon dioxide — as a byproduct of their consumption. It’s your job as a Landfill Gas Collection Operator to remove that gas like a Dentist removing a cavity.

Left unchecked, landfill gas can cause fires and explosions, contaminate groundwater and soil, and infiltrate the air, where it harms the ozone layer and contributes to climate change. By removing it, therefore, you help protect both people and the planet.

As a Landfill Gas Collection Operator, you start by tracking landfill gas levels using special instruments. When levels get too high, you collaborate with Landfill Gas Technicians to collect the gas using a landfill gas collection system: a series of wells drilled into the trash, where gas collects and is pumped through a pipeline to a landfill gas plant so that a Landfill Operator can get rid of it, either by burning it or by using it to generate heat or electricity.

By monitoring landfill gas, and operating, managing, and maintaining landfill gas collection systems, you succeed at throwing away the garbage’s garbage!