Sustainable landfill: the role of fail-safe engineering for landfill aftercare

This research project examined the key issues associated with landfill closure that influences the ability of landfill to be included within a sustainable waste management system. Uncertainty will always surround the precise state of a landfill on its journey towards full stabilisation. While an understanding of the key parameters that govern its progress is important, it is highly desirable to add passive fail-safe systems to landfills so that failure of aftercare systems do not result in large scale environmental impact. A tentative definition of sustainable landfill was developed as part of the previous Equilibrium Study (Hall et al, 2007) albeit that it was framed within the concept of equilibrium status:“Equilibrium status is achieved when emissions of contaminants (liquid or gaseous) are at a rate that allows full natural attenuation of environmental impacts without further intervention or management, beyond a post closure period that is measured in decades rather than centuries. One of the findings of that work was the recognition that a landfill would, as a necessary consequence of its journey towards completion, must enter into a phase of hydraulic equilibrium. Essentially this means that current lined landfill will at some stage need controlled flooding that will form part of the preparation of the Site for formal completion. Once a site has been “delicensed” there will be no mandatory controls on leachate management and many sites will, in any event, fill with water at a rate likely to exceed the rate of leakage from the base. The ultimate consequence of this is that the leachate level will rise and may overtop the lining system resulting in a discharge to surface water as well as ongoing leakage affecting groundwater quality.

 

 

Rechtliche und praktische Unsicherheiten bei der Durchführung des europäischen Klimaanpassungsrechts durch das Bundes- Klimaanpassungsgesetz (KAnG)
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (6/2025)
In the context of the European Climate Law (EU) 2021/1119), the Governance Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 and the Nature Restoration Regulation (EU) 2024/1991, the KAnG came into force on July 1, 2024.

Transformatives Klimarecht: Raum, Zeit, Gesellschaft
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (6/2025)
This article contends that climate law should be conceived as inherently transformative in a double sense. The law not only guides the necessary transformation of economy and society, but is itself undergoing transformation.

Maßnahmen zur Klimaanpassung sächsischer Talsperren
© Springer Vieweg | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH (5/2025)
Die Landestalsperrenverwaltung des Freistaates Sachsen (LTV) betreibt aktuell insgesamt 87 Stauanlagen, darunter 25 Trinkwassertalsperren. Der Stauanlagenbestand ist historisch gewachsen und wurde für unterschiedliche Zwecke errichtet.

 

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