Sustainable Landfill—Possibility or Pipe-Dream?

Abstract

Too often a sustainable landfill is described in terms of operational technique (e.g. bioreactor landfill or repository for pretreated waste) rather than the more appropriate goal of managing a landfill such that the environmental risk is acceptable. The technique that achieves the lowest risk landfill will vary according to a number of factors including the waste composition, climate and local geology/hydrogeology, and will vary from country to country, region to region, and site to site. A truly sustainable landfill is one in which the waste materials are safely assimilated into the surrounding environment, whether or not they have been treated by biological, thermal or other processes, and which manages gas-related problems so as to minimize the environmental impact. This is more likely to be achieved in containment landfills, but recognizing that liner failure will occur ultimately, and that in the long term, the escape of waste materials and their products of degradation is inevitable. Appropriate site selection, design and management is crucial to the attainment of more sustainable waste management. @ 1997 ISWA