Delaware

Statistics and Rankings

The 16th Nationwide Survey of MSW Management in the United States found that, in 2006, Delaware had an estimated 988,433-tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, placing it 46th in a survey of the 50 states and the capital district. Based on the 2006 population of 852,747, an estimated 1.16 tons of MSW were generated per person per year (ranking 31st). Delaware landfilled 885,283 tons in the state's three landfills (only Connecticut and Rhode Island report having fewer landfills, at two each). Delaware exported 12,617 tons of MSW (third-lowest export in the country), and 650 tons were imported (the lowest reported import in the country). In 2006, Delaware had 5 million cubic yards of landfill remaining and was increasing its capacity; it was ranked joint 32nd out of 44 respondent states for the number of landfills. Only whole tires were reported as being banned from Delaware landfills, with a ban on yard trimmings introduced at Cherry Island Landfill in 2008. Landfill tipping fees across Delaware were an average $58.90 per ton, where the cheapest and most expensive average landfill fees in the United States were $15 and $96, respectively. Delaware has no waste-to-energy (WTE) facility, but 103,150 tons of MSW were recycled, placing Delaware 44th in the ranking of recycled MSW tonnage.

Archaeology

As a coastal state, the Delaware archaeological record has numerous shell midden sites, mounds of discarded shell created by the processing of gathered shellfish and incidental food debris from the foods eaten alongside them. These sites are important as they are markers of small Woodland I period base camps, which are otherwise difficult to identify. The Wolfe Neck Site provided the finds that enabled the type description of Wolfe Neck Complex ceramics. Similarly, settlement sites of the Delmarva Adena Complex are little known. The Wilgus Site is a micro-band base camp containing material from the Delmarva Adena Complex and the later Carey Complex. While the living area of the site was on a low knoll that was raised and exposed to plowing and weathering, the nearby middens (both earth and shell middens) had survived relatively intact. As the Wilgus Site rubbish had been thrown down a slope to take it away from the living area, it had subsequently been buried by soil being washed down the slope by rainwater (slope wash or hill wash). The middens were large, around eight meters in diameter, and such a large mass of organics resists biodegradation, particularly shell middens. The calcium carbonate leaching from the clam and oyster shells created an alkaline burial environment, which buffered the acidity of the soil and thus preserved other organics in the deposit bone—antlers, fish scales, and charred seeds. Growth-ring patterns in the oyster shell hinges indicates they were gathered in late winter–early spring.

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