ABSTRACT
Most land”lls were created as an economical way to dispose of municipal garbage and hazardous wastes. In the 1950s, the highest form of use of swamp land (wetlands) was to ”ll them in and develop the land for housing or industrial purposes. When a municipality or an industry does not know how to treat all of its waste materials, the cheapest alternative is to dig a hole and bury the materials. This process has been going on for as long as recorded history has been written. Ancient Middle Eastern cities back in Biblical times had land”lls, and many of them are now tellsabandoned with the cities.
