Iraq’s first environmentally-engineered landfill in Kirkuk

A lot has been said about U.S. Army in Iraq. But here is a green note from the same from the capital of Iraq. Garnering green attention is the city of Kirkuk that is located about 250 kilometers north of the capital of Baghdad. Boasting of a new environmentally-engineered landfill that is touted to be the first of its kind in Iraq, the city intends to put an end to 900 tons of daily trash in a green manner. Teaming up with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the $8.8 million sanitary landfill project meets both the highest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and European Union Landfill Directive standards. The landfill project is spread over 48-acres and has an expected lifespan of 10-12 years according to the engineers. To increase the capacity of landfill sites and to conform to current EPA standards, solid waste will now be processed through a transfer waste station where garbage is compacted. The Kirkuk landfill will soon have two solid waste transfer stations to provide added capacity and to compact the trash before being transferred to the landfill.

The price tag for each solid waste site is $2.5 million with funding for the projects coming from several agencies worldwide. Such a move will also boost local economy as the solid waste sites and landfill will employ more than 700 local workers, adding good paying jobs.
Thanks Nicole Dalrymple