Acommunity of approximately 100,000 people has about 5 acres of landfill left that can be filled to about 30 ft deep with refuse compacted to somewhere between 600 and 800 lbm/yd'. what is the remaining life of the landfill? solution using the procedure just outlined, the first step is to define the problem. clearly, the answer does not require high precision because the data are not precise. in addition, the definition of the problem requires an answer in time units. the second step is to simplify the problem. there is no need to consider commercial or industrial wastes. estimate only refuse generated by individual households. the third step is to calculate an answer. all the necessary data are available except the per capita production of refuse. suppose a family of 4 fills up 3 garbage cans per week. if each can is about 8 ft' and if we assume the uncompacted garbage is at about one-fourth of the compacted density, say at 200 lb/yd', it is reasonable to calculate the per capita production as