why can't we dispose garbage into a volcano?

Question

it would save space and reduce pollution,right?

Answer 1

Well Now...

Let's See...

It seems to me like most of the volcanos are way up at the top of some mountain. Right? That means you would have to drive all that garbage way up to the top of a mountain and dump it in. That is a lot of hauling and dumping of a heck of a lot of garbage.

The garbage trucks and people with plastic bags of trash would have to drive and walk up the highways and roads up to the rim of the volcano to dump the trash in. Are there paved roads up the sides of most volcanos?I don't remember seeing to many roads going up volcanos that way. So, it would be a tough drive and a long walk to haul it there.

Now, once you get there, is the volcano burning inside, or just sitting there asleep? If it is asleep, all that trash is going to just pile up into a really big pile and plug up the mouth of the volcano. If the volcano ever does awaken and erupt shooting out fire, lava and smoke, guess where all that piled up trash is going to go. Yup... Right back down the mountain.

If the volcano's mouth is a seething ball of molten hot lava, Everything around the mouth of the volcano is going to be scalding hot - really hot. Worse, however, are the nasty gas fumes that come out of the volcano's mouth like really bad breath. That gas is most often a kind of sulphur dioxide stuff that will kill you if you get to much of it in your lungs. My chemistry tells me that sulphur dioxide and water (in my lungs) creates sulphuric acid which is some really bad stuff (caustic). So, all of the trash haulers would have to wear gas masks and carry oxygen bottles to breath okay when dumping the garbage into the volcano. Temperatures around the mouths of hot volcanos are generally 200 to 300 degrees F. (or hotter). So, the trash haulers will probably need to wear insulated suits, shoes, and gloves. However, the real problem is that the trash the haulers are trying to dump into the volcano would probably burst into flames or explode while they were trying to fling it down into the center of the crater. So, the mess might get a bit hairy to dance around with, and the rubber tires on the trash trucks might catch on fire making them useless for very much trash hauling.

Now, back to the left over cold volcanos that haven't erupted in many years. Figure on gas for the trucks at $ 3.00 per gallon and gas mileage per truck driving in the mountains with heavy loads at around 5 miles to the gallon. Wow, that is going to be really expensive to haul all that trash up the mountains to the volcano.

Oh, I forgot to mention that most volcanos are pretty high up in the air. Gee, that means that the air is going to be really thin up there, and all those folks with breathing problems will have to stay behind because they can't make the walk, or drive up the mountain without sitting down gasping for oxygen that isn't there.

Last but not least, you will more than likely find a truck from the EPA parked across the road up the side of the volcano. Some guy will come out of the truck and tell you that you can't dispose of that trash here. You will have to turn around and go back home, or be faced with a fine from the government of up to several million dollars for the clean-up work to collect and safely dispose of all that garbage and trash.

On the whole I would not rate volcano trash disposals as a good idea.

Answer 2

Unfortunately all of the garbage burned at once would make it stink too :p. The other thing is that acid would be adverse to the environment because of the fumes that idea is actually a little more reasonable but gathering up that much acid would cost some serious money. Also, putting all the grabage in volcanoes could cause fumes to make the volcano erupt by building up pressure. This is a good idea and your head is in the right place just that the idea has been thought of its just dangerous. Soon we'll start shooting it to the moon ;).

Answer 3

It is interesting that most people believe that pollution is the primary reason that this suggestion is not workable. I really doubt the validity of this line of argument, which is, at its foundation, political, not scientific.

The primary reason this suggested volcano technique will not work well is the cost of transportation of millions of tonnes of garbage to active volcanos, and the cost of maintainance of disposal capability close to the active craters or lava flows. Landfill methods will be cheaper by far for the intermediate term future, at least.

Lava is so very hot, far hotter than ordinary furnaces, that most dangerous pollution compounds (toxic organics for example) would be destroyed utterly.

Sulfur will not be destroyed, of course, but the atmospheric output of sulfur of an active volcano would dwarf the addition of sulfur from ordinary wastes of dozens of cities (that is not the problem). I suspect the same is true of CO2 or particulates output,....volcanos are quite dirty all by themselves, and adding our garbage would not make a big change.

I am less sure about heavy metals discharge. But downwind of an active volcano is an unhealthy place anyway.

If you want to use volcanos in a more pollution mitigating way, try using geothermal energy to generate electricity. Acid rain is primarily caused by buring high-sulfur coal in generating facilities. Auto exhaust is a secondary cause.

Answer 4

Every video I've seen of garbage (or organic material in general) getting "placed" or rather "dumped" into a magma pit / volcano / etc. involves some sort of explosive reaction. It's a great idea on paper, because it would effectively disintegrate virtually any waste material.

However, it is far too dangerous for us to accomplish this until we develop technology that is able to withstand repeated exposure to extreme conditions in these areas. While we do have material that can be worn or used to shield a vehicle from temporary exposure, it is too expensive to be practical mass production.
This is why governments (like the US) need to stop investing ridiculous amounts of tax dollars in to war machines and instead invest into adaptive science and technology. Or, put a stop to the phony neo-capitalist system at the root of the problem.

Answer 5

Ask the EPA...

I imagine the expense of transporting garbage to the volcanoes would play a factor in the reason why...

Also, there are uses for the "lava" after it cools. Stones are used as beauty regimens. Sending garbage into the crevice would probably affect the natural quality of the flow.

Why don't we dig a pit to the center of the earth and just plunge the garbage into it...that way it would not affect a natural phenom.

The inconvenient truth of the matter is...the reason that we cannot dispose of garbage into volcanos is that it would "stink" to the heavens...

Answer 6

Not bothering with the possibility of pyro'C'lastic flows, the majority are right in the problem of how. I suggest you look up the volcano study station on Hawaii and pay attention to what they have to do (and wear) just to work there. The critical problem is that you can't get close enough. The heat suits they wear are not going to allow it and there is no vehicle I know of that would survive long enough unless it is a one way trip. Air drop? Expensive if you are going to be accurate enough all the time. Biggest problem? Not enough volcanoes.

Answer 7

If you can get it into the volcano, this would be good.

Most pollution is caused by incomplete combustion. Throwing material into a volcano (I assume you mean directly into the lava/magma) would cause complete combustion, which would be far healthier than current disposal methods. If you asked the question, why don't we avoid making the trash instead of incinerating it, the obvious answer is to avoid it. But as to your question, volcanic incineration would only be impractical regarding transport and input, but not from the resulting output.

Answer 8

Actually, it would increase pollution. The fumes from burning organic and inorganic materials such as waste, plastics, etc. would be emitted and then trapped within our atmosphere. (And we'd be breathing in stuff such as molten styrofoam daily.) It would be hazardous to all health on the planet. And when a volcano erupts, ash deposits everywhere (there was that recent documented volcano eruption in the 1980's, and wow, the sky was black during the day and it was raining ash.) The remnants from the melted materials would still be there, chemically, and would disable life to grow there, ultimately disabling food to grow and for humans to eat. It would be a bad chain reaction.

Interesting thought though...

Answer 9

Your idea is superb and very few people think abt that
The main prob regarding this is that how will u throw the garbage inside the lava.The area around the lava is quite hot and every time a person going there just to throw garbage is quite risky and who would like to do it.I think so now the question which is lurkin your mind is that we can throw it by means of helicopter.
The next prob is that organic garbage can indeed b thrown inside the lava but what about plastic bags and other materials when they will b burnt the gas will obviously b harmful to the atmosphere.And one thing is for sure the content of garbage in this world is in such a large content that its gonna block the volcanic pipes and ultimately lava will come out from land
But nice thinking of yours

Answer 10

You would have to go to an openly running volcano like those on Hawaii. Not all volcanoes are those cartoon figures that you can just walk up to and throw something into a pit of lava.