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From Cecil's Mailbag by the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board
Dear Straight Dope:
Now and then, I see curbside signs in front of people's homes in
rural
areas that read "clean fill wanted." Now, what exactly _is_
"fill", how
is it judged to be clean, and why can't the people who want it just
go
out and get some? Is there some other group of people driving
around
with a van of "fill," hoping desperately to be able to sell it
somewhere? Please fill me in. --Bob Igo, human
SDSTAFF Ian replies:
"Fill" is dirt. Top soil, clay, sand, gravel, rubble, even brick
or concrete. "Clean", in this case, means environmentally clean,
i.e. free from contaminants, including corrosive, combustible,
noxious, zootoxic, reactive, or radioactive materials. The reason
some people want it is to raise the elevation of a lot in order to
make it more suitable to construction, change the contours of a
construction site to improve drainage, replenish soils lost
to erosion, or simply to obtain some suitable material for a
subfoundation where otherwise a site may not support construction.
The reason for hoping that somebody out there may be driving
around, looking for some place to get rid of their fill, is that
construction of some types, or on some sites, often entails the
removal of such material from a site, and simply dumping it
elsewhere on the site may be impractical or illegal. So, if some
developer
has a few truckloads of dirt, rubble, whatever, the best place for
them to put it is on the site of some other builder. Typically,
the two will share the transportation costs. The people with
excess fill save disposal fees, the people with need save material
costs, and the environment benefits because this material is
essentially recycled. A pretty example of how a barter system of
economy can work. More efficient ways of advertising the supply
or demand for fill dirt exist, of course, and in some situations,
several different developers will often form a consortium wherein
each member gives or receives fill as they need, from their
different building sites. Of course, you can just go out and buy
some dirt, but what fun is that?
--SDSTAFF Ian
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board
Cecil's Mailbag is researched and written by members of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board, Cecil's online auxiliary. Although the SDSAB does its best, these articles are edited by Ed Zotti, not Cecil, so accuracywise you'd better keep your fingers crossed.
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