SANITARY LANDFILL OPERATIONS - Environmentally Conscious Materials Handling - page 194

CHAPTER 7
SANITARY LANDFILL OPERATIONS

Berrin Tansel, Ph.D., P.E., F. ASCE
Florida International University
Miami, Florida

1 WHAT IS A SANITARY

LANDFILL?

5 LANDFILL PLANNING AND

DESIGN 197 203

5.1 Site Selection 203

2 WASTE QUANTITIES AND

TRENDS

5.2 Design and Regulatory Approval 205

200

5.3 Site Construction and Landfill
Layout 208

3 SOURCES OF SOLID

WASTE

5.4 Operation 211

201

5.5 Site Closure and End Use 214

4 FACTORS AFFECTING

SOLID WASTE GENERATION
RATES AND
COMPOSITION

5.6 Long-Term Care 215

REFERENCES 216

202

1 WHAT IS A SANITARY LANDFILL?

An economical and environmentally sustainable management of solid waste
requires an integrated approach that incorporates collection, recycling, resource
recovery, land disposal, and public education. Sanitary landfills are engineered
systems developed for disposal of solid waste. A sanitary landfill is designed and
developed in a manner that prevents pollution or harm to environment. After the
landfill is completed, the land may be used for another purpose that benefits the
community. Landfills are critical for most waste management strategies, because
they are the simplest, cheapest, and most cost-effective method of disposing of
waste (Allen 2001). However, engineering considerations should be incorporated
during design, operation, closure, and postclosure of landfills so that impacts to
the environment (i.e., leachate and gas releases to the environment) are mini-
mized or mitigated. Cap, cover, liner system, and gas collection system are the
basic components of a sanitary landfill. The landfill cap reduces the infiltration of
precipitation while controlling leachate and gas migration. Landfill gas produced
during the anaerobic biodegradation of the organic materials in the waste consists
mainly of methane and carbon dioxide, with trace levels of volatile organic com-
pounds. Pressure, concentration, and temperature gradients that develop within

197