Landfill Clock

What is the Landfill Countdown Clock (i.e., Doomsday Clock)?

The landfill countdown clock shows how much time is left before the Anchorage Regional Landfill is full. A slider below the clock allows us to see the impact of our behavior on the life of the landfill. If we reduce the amount of garbage we send to the landfill each day, we can add years to its life. The icons below the slider highlight some of the actions that will make an impact on the life of the landfill.

How does the clock work?

The clock is reset each night, incorporating the previous day's key performance indicator data. This data includes weights of the garbage that has been added to the landfill as well as placed garbage density and settlement patterns. The Doomsday clock also considers the amount of space used by soil that is placed on top of the garbage each day to control odors, wildlife and make the working surface drivable.

In order to estimate remaining life, the clock has to know how much space is currently left and then must estimate how much space we will use each year. This information is pulled each day from computer systems that track our landfill management activities.

How does the slider under the clock work?

The slider under the clock shows how changes in our behavior will affect the life of the landfill. To the right of the "baseline" setting (zero), the slider shows how reducing the amount of garbage we generate each day can add years to the life of the landfill. The left side of the baseline shows the impact of increasing the amount of garbage that goes to the landfill or recycling in Anchorage going away.

When you move the slider to the right, the clock reduces the "baseline" tons of garbage sent to the landfill each year by the percentage shown on the slider, and it reduces the amount of cover needed by the same percentage. It then recalculates the years of life remaining using the smaller volume of airspace needed each year. When you move the slider to the left of zero, the clock increases the baseline tons of garbage and cover by the percentage shown, which reduces the life of the landfill.

Click the icons underneath the slider to learn about the potential impact of actions that we can take as a community, such as recycling, organics division and converting waste to energy.