Environmental Impacts of Solid Waste Landfilling

Landfills are the primary option for waste disposal all over the world. Most of the landfill sites across the world are old and are not engineered to prevent contamination of the underlying soil and groundwater by the toxic leachate. The pollutants from landfill leachate have accumulative and detrimental effect on the ecology and food chains leading to carcinogenic effects, acute toxicity, and genotoxicity among human beings. Management of this highly toxic leachate presents a challenging problem to the regulatory authorities who have set specific regulations regarding maximum limits of contaminants in treated leachate prior to disposal into the environment to ensure minimal environmental impact. There are different stages of leachate management such as monitoring of its formation and flow into the environment, identification of hazards associated with it, and its treatment prior to disposal into the environment. This article focuses on: (i) leachate composition, (ii) plume migration, (iii) contaminant fate, (iv) leachate plume monitoring techniques, (v) risk assessment techniques, hazard-rating methods, mathematical modeling, and (vi) recent innovations in leachate treatment technologies. However, due to seasonal fluctuations in leachate composition, flow rate, and leachate volume, the management approaches cannot be stereotyped. Every scenario is unique and the strategy will vary accordingly. This article lays 473 out the choices for making an educated guess leading to the best management option.

Environmental Science & Technology, 2006

Landfills are the primary option for waste disposal all over the world. Most of the landfill sites across the world are old and are not engineered to prevent contamination of the underlying soil and groundwater by the toxic leachate. The pollutants from landfill leachate have accumulative and detrimental effect on the ecology and food chains leading to carcinogenic effects, acute toxicity and genotoxicity among human beings. Management of this highly toxic leachate presents a challenging problem to the regulatory authorities who have set specific regulations regarding maximum limits of contaminants in treated leachate prior to disposal into the environment to ensure minimal environmental impact. There are different stages of leachate management such as monitoring of its formation and flow into the environment, identification of hazards associated with it and its treatment prior to disposal into the environment. This review focuses on: (i) leachate composition, (ii) Plume migration, (iii) Contaminant fate, (iv) Leachate plume monitoring techniques, (v) Risk assessment techniques, Hazard rating methods, mathematical modeling, and (vi) Recent innovations in leachate treatment technologies. However, due to seasonal fluctuations in leachate composition, flow rate and leachate volume, the management approaches cannot be stereotyped. Every scenario is unique and the strategy will vary accordingly. This paper lays out the choices for making an educated guess leading to the best management option.

2021

Landfill is a popular method of waste disposal in many countries due to its relatively low of costs of operation. The offensive aspect of the method is improper removal or disposal of the waste, which has resulted in avoidable sicknesses, diseases and preventable deaths. Carbon dioxide and methane are the two main gases emitted from landfill sites; municipal solid waste issue accounts for almost 5% of total greenhouse gas emissions and methane from landfills accounts for 12% of the total quantity of global methane emissions. Landfills can be put to sustainable use by employing it to produce energy from waste whenever is feasible and it has the capacity to generate revenue. Furthermore, many advanced waste treatment technologies have been developed which received commendable attention in developed countries and are evolving in developing countries. Landfill gas-to-energy is viable economically and for control of methane emissions and effective management of time, costs and quality wi...

Waste Management, 2004

Consortium for Landfill Emissions Abatement Research (CLEAR) is an international working group of the International Waste Working Group (IWWG). CLEAR coordinates interdisciplinary research on the quantification and mitigation of landfill gas emissions to the atmosphere. The CLEAR Working Group emerged from a recognized need among participants at an IWWG-Workshop, which was held in the context of the Second Intercontinental Landfill Research Symposium (ICLRS), in Asheville, North Carolina, during October 2002, for a mechanism to coordinate international research on landfill gas emissions. So far, the CLEAR Working Group includes about 20 academic and industrial researchers and scientists from Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. Member expertise encompasses a broad range of disciplines, including microbiology, soil science, chemistry, geochemistry, civil and environmental engineering, and waste management. Collectively, the CLEAR members have many years of experience with the measurement and modelling of landfill gases at local, regional, and global scales, as well as in the field of landfill gas emission mitigation strategies. An initial focus of CLEAR is the utilization of natural biological processes to reduce the emissions of methane and Non-Methane Organic Compounds (NMOCs). A second focus will be on improved methodologies to measure and model landfill gas emissions. Group members have already begun to compile common methodologies and develop recommendations for new and developing techniques, so that data can be compared among laboratories and experimental systems. Currently, a common database is being set up. This CLEAR-database will summarize the international efforts and results on methane emissions and oxidation

Waste Management, 2011

International Journal of Engineering Research and, 2020

The waste management of Solid-fluid remains a major challenge that faces sustainable environment and human health. Effluents from disposal facilities and waste treatment generate direct as well as indirect impacts on the welfare of humans and the environment. The direct impacts include the material destruction, damage to health and loss of aesthetic values. Also, the indirect effects develop a long term impact, encompassing ecosystem imbalance and climate change. The challenges and mitigating the waste disposal problem has happened to be greater due to high growth rate of population, economic expansion, industrial growth and urbanization. The purpose of this review paper is to obtain the maximum information from the international and national literature, on Waste management, and landfill procedures adopted in every country, and the drastic impacts landfill and incineration practices generate on the environment and human health.

1995

This report was prepared as a n account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof.

: Landfills depending on their age and location exist in different stages of development. They range from often uncontrolled dumpsites to highly engineered facilities with leachate and gas management on the one hand and from typical municipal waste landfills over landfills for incineration residues (MSWI) to future landfills for residues after mechanical biological treatment (MBP). The paper describes the relevance of the environmental impact of past and existing landfills in comparison to MSWI landfills and future MBP landfills across seven human health and environmental impact categories. The results show a dramatic decrease in the environmental relevance of landfilling within the management system by applying treatment technologies before landfilling and landfill technology. Thus, it can be concluded that other processes, such as energy generation from thermal processes, recycling activities etc. will assume a much greater significance in future waste management.