The Long Island Pine Barrens society has been a leader in the effort to restore our water quality. We have partnered with scientists, public officials, community members, and a variety of other stakeholders to work to implement the solutions necessary to improve the quality of our water and our marine environment. Since Long Island’s aquifer system is our only source of drinking water, it is essential to minimize chemical contaminants that may seep into it. Thus, the operation/closure of the Brookhaven landfill is of great concern as it is currently, and will continue to be for many years, a source of airborne chemical contaminants. The closure of the landfill, if improperly managed, will increase this problem and will likely exacerbate illegal dumping.
Inspiring Youth to Protect their Environment is a new program, funded by the Unitarian Universalist Fund, in which the Pine Barrens Society applies the inquiry-based model its other programs are known for to create a curriculum for 6th grade students in the districts surrounding the landfill. This curriculum allows students to study how contaminants that result from the landfill operation, its upcoming closure and any resulting dumping will affect and are currently affecting their community. Students will acquire and hone advocacy skills as they develop and present their projects to school staff, LI Pine Barrens Society staff, scientists and local decision makers.
Educating the public as to the necessity and value of these efforts will increase the likelihood of our success. The Long Island ecosystem, including the Long Island Sound, the ocean bays and the Atlantic Ocean itself, will be the beneficiary of improved water quality which will, by extension, improve the lives of Long Islanders and Long Island economies.
Click the image below to read the DEC’s 2019 Fact Sheet about the Brookhaven Landfill:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
It’s an old cliché, but with good reason. Per the DEC, the average New Yorker throws out 4.5 pounds of garbage every day!1 Multiply that by 365 days, and you find that the average person is throwing out more than 2,500 pounds of waste each year. It should thus come as no surprise that the Brookhaven Landfill is nearing capacity. While there are many contributors to this problem, reducing the amount of waste one generates can help reduce the strain on the landfill, and ensure a more sustainable future.
Waste reduction is perhaps the most immediately understandable of the three terms listed above. If less stuff is thrown away, then there’s less waste that’s sent to the landfill, and thus fewer contaminants that can leach into the groundwater. Opting for reusable items, rather than disposable ones, can help with this. Initiatives like Suffolk County’s five-cent “bag tax” are designed to encourage residents to do just that, but there’s no need to wait for an additional incentive to cut down on waste! Washable metal straws can replace plastic ones, drinking water from a filter that attaches to a sink can replace bottled water, and so on. These replacements not only reduce the waste you generate, but will also save you money!
When it comes to the “Reuse” of solid goods, there are two different ways to look at things. On the one hand, you can reuse “disposable” products that can withstand multiple uses. Tinfoil covering a baking tray might just have a few crumbs on it. Instead of throwing that sheet out, you can shake off the crumbs and use it again. On the other hand, you can allow others to use things you no longer need. Whether that be old clothes that no longer fit, old toys that the kids have grown out of, or old DVDs you have no interest in rewatching, there’s no reason to throw these things out! Instead, you can donate them to any of Long Island’s numerous thrift stores or charities. New York State has a convenient map of reuse locations, which you can find here!
As for the last of the three Rs, recycling is both the simplest and most complex. While you may be accustomed to returning plastic bottles to the machines at the supermarket, or perhaps even bringing down to the curb a can of recyclables (either plastic or paper) every week, there are many more ways to recycle old stuff. And, there are many more things that can be recycled than you might think. New York State offers a “Recyclopedia” that provides up-to-date information on the best ways to dispose of everything from dead batteries to old couches! Whatever can’t be recycled can often be reused, and if not there are often ways to reduce the waste generated.
When it comes to plastic recycling, there’s some added difficulty given how many different kinds of plastic there are. Take the thin plastic film that wraps your newspaper, for example. This kind of plastic shouldn’t go in your curbside bin, as the Town doesn’t have the equipment needed to sort it out from the rest. What can you do about it, then? Check out this piece by LIPBS Board Member John Turner to find out!
Photo Credit: Dr. David Tonjes
Composting
While technically qualifying as another way to “reuse,” it’s worth exploring the wild world of composting on its own. Composting involves the natural degradation of organic matter – usually from plants and animals – to create nutrient-rich matter, which drastically improves the health of the soil. You can thus use composting to improve the health of your backyard plants or garden. On an individual scale, backyard composting allows you to put lots of food waste to a better, more eco-friendly use. The more that doesn’t end up in the landfill, the better! If you don’t have the space for an outdoor compost bin, there’s a related practice called “vermicomposting” which is done entirely indoors and uses worms to decompose waste extra fast! For more information on both kinds of home composting, check out the DEC’s Guide to Composting, or their composting web page!
In addition to home composting, there are also large-scale initiatives that work for the benefit of whole communities. At the time of writing, the HOG farm of Brookhaven Hamlet will be hosting just such a program starting in the spring. Other local groups may also engage in similar programs as the season progresses, and we’ll be sure to update this page as those crop up.
Plume Remediation
When you have a huge excess of waste sitting atop land, constantly beaten down and degraded by the sun, wind and rain, what inevitably happens is that particles from the waste seep into the ground. Once there, groundwater carries these often-harmful particles outward, forming what’s called a plume. In Suffolk County, our drinking water comes from underground aquifers and so even the slightest contamination can cause serious problems, either by raising the cost of water (as it needs more thorough purification before it’s distributed to the public) or by causing a public health crisis (if the contaminants are not properly removed from the water). Also consider the ecological damage that can be done. In the case of the Brookhaven Landfill, the groundwater flows southeast, right towards the Carmans River, one of Long Island’s two prime watersheds, and based on the DEC’s December 2024 report on the landfill, the plume has already spread more than halfway from the landfill to the Carmans!
So, if this groundwater contamination is so bad, what is to be done about it? As funny as it may sound, the solution is a straightforward one: clean the water! By installing remediation wells at contaminated sites, compromised water can be pumped out of the ground and cleaned. Do this enough, and eventually the soil and groundwater will be free of contaminants. This is not a simple process, as shown by the ongoing efforts to clean up the Grumman site, but it can be done. Unfortunately, the work has yet to begin with the Brookhaven landfill. While the DEC has done some work testing the surrounding area (as referenced above) that is only the first step in the process. A lot of work is still needed to clean up the groundwater around the landfill, and save our waterways from worse contamination.
Teacher Resources
Click on the image below to view a lesson set from the Smithsonian:
Click below to view a teacher’s guide from the EPA:
Click HERE to access an activity set from the Cornell Waste Management Institute
Additional Resources:
Cover Image Credit: Dr. David Tonjes, Stony Brook University
Inspiring Youth to Protect Their Environment is made by possible by the support of
the Long Island Unitarian Universalist Fund.
Sources:
