June19th – I must admit, I’m fascinated by the landfill at Highfields South, between Walsall Wood and Shelfield on the Lichfield Road. It looks and seems haphazard, but is being operated in an engineered manner. At the moment, the eastern side of the void is filled, now to about 6-8 metres above ground level with a marl cap on top. Gas bulkheads sit atop harvesting tubes inserted deep into the mound. As the pile sinks under it’s own weight and that of the cap, it evolves gas, which is harvested and powers a generating set, feeding energy into the National Grid.

Meanwhile, to the west of the void, the hole is being prepared for the next stack of waste. Systematic. Methodical.

The void existed due to marl quarrying for bricks, and the landscape is favourable for this type of thing. It may not be pleasant, and we should reduce our waste as a society, but the process is very interesting.