Introduction Archaeological investigations of landfills have revealed that biodegradable wastes can be found — virtually intact — 25 years after burial. We know that landfills contain bacteria with the metabolic capability to degrade many of the materials that are common components of municipal refuse. The persistence for decades of degradable materials in the presence of such organisms appears...

Heat is a primary byproduct of landfilling of municipal solid waste. Long-term elevated temperatures have been reported for MSW landfills under different operational conditions and climatic regions around the world. A conceptual framework is presented for management of the heat generated in MSW landfills. Three main strategies are outlined: extraction, regulation, and supplementation. Heat extr...

Open dumping and landfilling are the prevalent solid waste disposal practices in Thailand. Surveys on the disposal sites revealed the presence of 95 landfills and 330 open dumps. Methane emission potential at these sites was estimated by three methods. Results of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) method, Landfill Gas Emission model (LandGEM), and closed flux chamber technique...

Bioreactor landfills are operated to enhance refuse decomposition, gas production, and waste stabilization. The major aspect of bioreactor landfill operation is the recirculation of collected leachate back through the refuse mass. Due to the presence of additional leachate and accelerated decomposition, the dynamic characteristics of MSW in bioreactor landfills are expected to change. Assessmen...

The U.S. generates about 370 million short tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) each year. In 2002, an average of 26.9% of this material was either recycled or composted. Of the remainder, an estimated 242 million short tons were disposed of in landfills and about 29 million short tons were combusted in Waste to Energy (WTE) facilities to produce electricity and scrap metal. Effective management...

Large amounts of solid waste are disposed in landfills and the potential of particulate matter (PM) emissions into the atmosphere is significant. Particulate matter emissions in landfills are the result of resuspension from the disposed waste and other activities such as mechanical recycling and composting, waste unloading and sorting, the process of coating residues and waste transport by truc...

Aims, tasks and priorities of medium term development plans of national waste management were defined in the National Waste Management Plan, which was made for the period of 2003–2008 in Hungary. Supporting of the European Union is indispensable for carrying out of plan. The most important areas are related to the developing projects of municipal solid waste treatment (increasing the capacity o...

Design of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills requires a considerable attention due to the undesirable environmental and socio-economical impact of a potential failure. Furthermore, recent research and engineering practice experience in developed countries characterized by high seismicity, like U.S.A and Japan, has shown that MSW landfills are vulnerable to the seismic threat. Despite the viv...

Plastics have outgrown most man-made materials and have long been under environmental scrutiny. However, robust global information, particularly about their end-of-life fate, is lacking. By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, we present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plasti...

In landfills containing biological matter volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are generated at high rate at the early stage of waste disposal and their content in leachate is high as compared to the leachate from old parts of landfill since they are converted to methane gas. Monitoring of the leachate for the content of VFAs can help determine the processes occurring in waste and possible effect of the...