When you say dump, I say landfill.
Adam Jochelson, P. E.
Last month, we talked about several indicators that you might be a Landfill Engineer. Well, I saved one symptom for its own spotlight: the Dump-Landfill Reflex. Here鈥檚 how you know if you have the Dump-Landfill Reflex鈥攅very time you hear someone say something like, 鈥淚 went down to the dump, the other day,鈥� you immediately feel a strong urge to butt in and say, 鈥淵ou mean the landfill.鈥� In some cases, the reflex is so powerful that you just can鈥檛 stop yourself.
It鈥檚 Not a Dump!
I have the Dump-Landfill Reflex; I鈥檝e got it bad. Anyone who鈥檚 ever said dump around me can attest to that. Some people I know do it on purpose. Take my friend Mark1, for example鈥攈e deliberately uses the word dump in my presence because he knows it annoys me. I stop him immediately with a blurted out, 鈥淟andfill!鈥� usually followed by a punch in the arm. He knows it鈥檚 coming 鈥� and he deserves it. He knows that, too.
To be fair, there are some appropriate times to call a place the dump. I can think of two:
- If you鈥檙e at one the many garbage sites in developing nations (outside Europe and North America) that are, in fact, open dumps, or
- If you鈥檙e at one of the 10 locations of The Dump庐, a discount furniture outlet, along America鈥檚 eastern seaboard and the southwest.
So unless, you happen to be in one of those places, you are at a landfill, not a dump.
Some may wonder why I take this so seriously. Honestly, I doubt that the speaker means to insult me, and it is, after all, just a word. But to me, it鈥檚 more than a matter 听of simple semantics. And the intent is irrelevant. If you listen carefully to people鈥檚 word choices you can gather clues about their attitudes. When people call my workplace a landfill, it tells me that they appreciate the level of planning and effort that goes into its construction and operation. When they label it a dump 鈥� well, I probably don鈥檛 have to tell you what they鈥檙e thinking. And like it or not, perceptions and attitudes have a significant influence on a facility鈥檚 long-term status.
A Little Respect
Ironically, sometimes my own colleagues are the worst offenders. 鈥淚 work at the dump,鈥� I鈥檝e heard my coworkers say more times than I can bear to remember. I will never understand that. It makes me want to shake them and ask them to think about what they鈥檙e saying, to take some pride in their work, even if no one else does.
We鈥檝e come a long way in the landfill industry here in America from the old days when most disposal sites were basically dumps. Whenever I give landfill tours, I make sure that everyone knows the rule number one is to never call the place a dump. Invariably, the overwhelming majority of any tour group leaves with an unexpected appreciation for the landfill鈥檚 level of complexity and sophistication. They鈥檙e always surprised by amount of thought and effort that goes into its development and operation. But most of all they come away with a newfound respect for a facility to which they had never before given much thought, if any.
When they鈥檒l listen to me, I remind my coworkers that their behavior and attitudes can undermine that respect. Seriously, if I don鈥檛 appreciate the value of my workplace, why should anybody else. 鈥淏e proud of our landfill,鈥� I tell them, 鈥渁nd make every effort to leave a legacy worth remembering!鈥�
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Pride > Love
Before my time with GeoShack, I spent every day of nearly 10 years working to make McCommas Bluff Landfill the best facility that it could be. I loved my job鈥攁nd my landfill鈥攁nd it showed. Conversations about work included references to 鈥渕y landfill.鈥� But more important than my fondness for my work is that I took pride in what I did. I鈥檝e heard many say that loving your work is the key to success. I don鈥檛 agree with that. I will admit that loving your job helps, but I don鈥檛 believe it鈥檚 a requirement. I am a firm believer that when it comes to performance on the job, pride is much more important than love. Trust me, I鈥檝e had plenty of jobs that I didn鈥檛 love, but I managed to do well at all of them because, without exception, I took pride in whatever I was doing. And there鈥檚 one simple reason why: I wanted my efforts to produce something that would shine a positive light on me.
These days, most Americans have had, or will have, many different kinds of jobs, but they will all have at least one thing in common in that any job will have some kind of discernible output鈥攚hether it be manufactured products, field reports, pieces of software code, satisfied customers, works of art, neatly trimmed lawns or any number of other items. My experience indicates that the quality of that output is directly proportional to the amount of pride the producers take in the work they do. And when your output depends on the efforts of an entire team, if just one contributor disregards the quality of his or her part, it can sink the whole ship.
Landfills are prime examples. Maintaining a high quality facility requires contributions from team members as varied as cashiers, laborers, managers, engineers and operators. Everyone鈥檚 contribution is important, and poor performance from any of them can produce disastrous results. This is why I take it so seriously.
When you walk into a place thinking it鈥檚 a dump, you will probably see what you expect. It鈥檚 even worse when the people who work there think the same thing. I鈥檝e always taken pride in my work, but I am especially proud of my landfill鈥擨 still think of McCommas Bluff that way even though I鈥檝e been gone almost four years.
So, yeah, I take it personally if you call it a dump. As far as I鈥檓 concerned, everyone who manages garbage for a living should have the Dump-Landfill Reflex.
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Adam Jochelson, P. E., is a Landfill Engineer and Facility Specialist working for GeoShack, Inc., where he promotes the application of cutting edge technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of landfill operations. Adam built his knowledge and techniques over a nine-year period as the on-site engineer at McCommas Bluff Landfill in Dallas, TX. His unique experiences in engineering and other fields have combined to create an exceptional understanding of the various challenges inherent in landfill planning, design, and operations. Send comments or questions to Adam at [email protected] or call him at (972) 342-3055.
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Note
- I may or may not have changed Mark鈥檚 name to protect his privacy. But if I did, it鈥檚 only because I鈥檓 a nice guy. He totally doesn鈥檛 deserve it.
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Sidebar
Land路fill En路gi路neer [land-fil en-juh-neer]
noun an environmental engineer who specializes in the design, management, planning, and development, of solid waste management facilities; a unique combination of engineer, surveyor, data analyst, computer programmer, construction worker, manager, teacher, writer, conservationist, and experimenter.
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