THE WASTE CRISIS

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Landfills, Incinerators,
and the Search for a
Sustainable Future

Hans Tammemagi

New York

Oxford

Oxford University Press

1999

Oxford University Press

Oxford New York
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Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press, Inc.

Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tammemagi, H. Y.
The waste crisis : Landfills, incinerators, and the search
for a sustainable future / by Hans Tammemagi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-512898-2
1. Integrated solid waste management. I. Title.
TD794.2.T36 1999
363. 72'85dc21
98-53199

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper

Today the environment is under seige.

There is serious concern whether our
children and grandchildren will be able
to enjoy the delicate beauty of a
blossom in spring, the call of a bird
winging high on a breeze, or the
graceful leap of a startled deer.

This book is dedicated to those individuals who not only want to understand waste management principles but
will challenge them, break away from
the common mindset, and develop new
and improved ideasones that will
benefit and sustain our environment for
those that follow.

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PREFACE

A long time ago I lived in a small northern town that was surrounded by primeval forest, cliffs of ancient Precambrian rock, and
a maze of deep-blue lakes and creeks. The vast wilderness had a
rugged beauty that brought a soul-fulfilling tranquillity to our lives.
When visitors arrived, they invariably wanted to visit the town
dump to see the bears that were always present, snuffling and rooting through the garbage. But I was intrigued by the dump itself.
That tangled mound of refuse contained every conceivable relic
of human usage, as though a tornado had torn through town, uprooted everything in its path, jumbled it all up, crushed it, and then
dropped the whole lot in this spot. Pieces of furniture, threadbare
tires, rusty appliances, amputated branches from yard maintenance
projects, and ragged clothing formed a microcosm of our society.
And scattered throughout the dump, all sorts of food wastes tumbled
from torn plastic garbage bags making tasty morsels for the bears.
In a small town with no movies or bowling alleys, the dump
served as an unofficial social center. Neighbors chatted with each
other as they unloaded bulky items from trailers or car trunks. Kids
rummaged through the refuse seeking treasure. And many came to
enjoy the bears. The dump also competed with the local garage as
the site for changing oil, with local do-it-yourselfers parked on slight
inclines emptying old crankcase oil onto the ground.
The dump was usually veiled by smoke from fires that smouldered in one area or another. In the fall, temperature inversions often
held the smoke close to the ground like a blanket. The eerie smoke

viii

PREFACE

and pungent smell drifted far out along the highway, announcing
the presence of our town long before you reached it.
During my teenage years my pals and I would sneak into the
dump after dark where, armed with powerful flashlights and 22calibre rifles, we hunted rats. Sometimes we threw handfuls of
bullets into the burning parts of the dump and scrambled to hide
behind cars or trees where we expectantly awaited the ensuing
explosions. We also experimented with batteries, gasoline, and
other interesting fluids to create a sizzle, bang, or pyrotechnical
display.
After a heavy rain, a murky liquid seeped from the dump into a
nearby stream that meandered about half a kilometer through a
stately pine forest until it reached the river. No one was concerned
since the cloudy seepage usually cleared up in a few days. Occasionally, the health department placed restrictions on the amount
of fish that could be eaten, but we were sure any problems were
caused by industries up the river and not by our little dump.
I visited the old town not long ago and couldn't resist a drive out
to the dump. A chain-link fence guards the perimeter nowI guess
it's as much to keep humans out as it is to keep the bears away
and fires aren't allowed. But I heard that the kids still sneak in and
occasionally the echo of gunshots breaks the solitude and leaping
flames light up the vast night sky.
After we moved south, renovations on our new home soon created the need to visit the municipal landfill. Spread over a hundred
acres, with trucks and bulldozers scurrying like ants over its vast
girth, it made our northern dump look insignificant. Built in an
abandoned quarry on top of a large cliff, it overlooked a neat middleclass suburb. Decades of blasting had weakened the underlying rock,
creating fractures along which seepage from the landfill could flow.
Unlike our isolated northern community, the environmental
problems caused by this much larger landfill were quite conspicuous. The local newspaper broadcast a continuing litany of sewer
backups, creek contamination, and foul odors suffered by the residents living below the landfill.
This is not an isolated situation. Similar scenes are played out
across North America since every village, town, and city must have
at least one operating landfill, and there are many that are now
closed. And what gargantuan size are the dumps for cities like New
York, Toronto, Chicago, and Los Angeles?
In the last century the activities of humans have placed enormous
stress on the environment. The exponential growth in population,

PREFACE

combined with an increasing appetite for consumer goods, has led

to an explosion in the amount of garbage we produce. At the same
time, finding space for landfills is becoming more difficult.
Finding solutions to the garbage crisis is not simple. The problem is enormous in size, vital in terms of its impact on the environment, and complex in scope, involving not just many technical
disciplines, but also social, political, and policy issues.
It is hard to believe that an everyday item such as garbage can be
the source of so much misinformation, emotional debate, and misdirected effort. Sensation-seeking media and self-serving "environmental" groups have made it difficult to separate fact from fiction
and have hindered the development of solutions to what is a growing, pervasive, and very real problem.
The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of solid waste management in North America and to seek solutions to the waste crisis. The magnitude and complexity of the
problem are explained, including a description of the quantities and
character of solid waste being produced by society. The focus is on
municipal wastes, but this is placed in the perspective of hazardous, biomedical, and radioactive wastes as well. The main components of an integrated waste management program are described,
including recycling, composting, landfills, and waste incinerators.
The scientific and engineering principles underlying these technologies as well as illustrative case histories are presented.
Unlike other textbooks, The Waste Crisis places this important
subject into the broader societal context and discusses policies and
strategies involved in the solid waste management field. It starts by
questioning whether near-surface landfills are the appropriate solution for waste disposal, and then tries to find a path that is based
on fundamental principles that can be applied to all waste types. It
presents a framework based on sustainable development for making decisions about waste issues. The intent is to encourage the
reader to constantly challenge commonly held perceptions and seek
new and better ways of doing old things.
The Waste Crisis has been designed to be a general reference that
is suitable for a wide readership. Because of its relatively detailed
technical content, it can be used at the university and college level,
particularly for students in the arts and science streams who are interested in learning about this topic but who will not be involved
in the detailed design of waste systems. The Waste Crisis will also
be a useful reference for engineering students who will benefit from
the policy and social/environmental issues that are discussed.

ix

PREFACE

Because The Waste Crisis is written in a non-mathematical style

with numerous case histories, sidebars, and a comprehensive glossary, it will also be of interest to anyone who wishes to learn about
this important topic or who has an interest in the environment.
Thus, The Waste Crisis is appropriate for the bookcases of public
libraries and high schools. The general reader who wishes to avoid
technical details could skip chapters 6 (waste descriptions) and 10
(waste containment and treatment). Chapters 7 (landfills) and 9 (incinerators) are recommended reading, but could be skimmed rather
than read in detail.
The Systeme Internationale (SI) units are used throughout the
book. Because the British system of units is so firmly entrenched
in the United States, the British equivalents are also presented in
some cases (in brackets after the SI values).
I am grateful to the following for their assistance and support in
making this book become reality. Early drafts were improved by the
reviews of Dr. Vera Lafferty, Gunther Funk, Ian Brindle, John Orser,
Frank Fohr, Dr. Francine McCarthy, and several others whose identities were never revealed. Joyce Berry and MaryBeth Branigan at
Oxford University Press patiently and knowledgeably guided the
editing process. I am indebted to my wife Allyson for her support
throughout this long project.
The following organizations are thanked for providing information about their facilities or equipment and/or giving permission to
use their photographs in this book: Brian Kearney Inc., Salt Lake City,
Utah; R. Cave and Associates, Ontario; Chem-Security (Alberta) Ltd.,
Calgary, Alberta; ECDC Environmental, Salt Lake City, Utah; ECO
Waste Solutions, Burlington Ontario; Guelph Engineering Dept.,
City of Guelph, Ontario; Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Midwest Bio-Systems,
Tampico, Illinois; Mine Reclamation Corporation, Palm Desert,
California; Municipal Archives of the City of New York; New York
City Department of Sanitation, New York; Ogden Martin Systems
of Lancaster Inc., Pennsylvania; Regional Municipality of OttawaCarlton, Ontario; Solmax Geosynthetics, Etobicoke, Ontario; and
Wright Environmental Management Inc., Richmond Hill, Ontario.
Credit for photographs is given to the appropriate organization.
Copyright remains with the organization credited for the photograph. Where no credit is given, the photograph was taken by the
author.

CONTENTS

Waste 3
Magnitude of the Problem 5
Life Inside a Landfill 7
Looking for Solutions 8
Discussion Topics and Assignments 9

Starting from Basics 11

Sustainable Development 11
General Principles 14
Public Involvement 15
Discussion Topics and Assignments 17

Historical Perspectives: What Can We Learn? 19

Garbage through the Ages 19
America After the Turn of the Century 22
The Age of Consumerism and the Waste
Explosion 25
The Crisis 28
Summary of Landfill Evolution 3 0
Discussion Topics and Assignments 32

Integrated Waste Management: More than Just

Landfills 33
What Is Integrated Waste Management? 33
Comparative Cost AnalysisApples
and Oranges? 36

xii

CONTENTS

How Much Recycling Is Achievable? Exploding

the Myth 38
The Bottom Line 43
Discussion Topics and Assignments 43
5

Recycling and Composting: Making a Molehill

Out of a Mountain 45
Recycling 45
Composting 51
Discussion Topics and Assignments 59

Wastes: Know Your Enemy 61

Classifying Wastes hy Generator 61
Classifying Waste by Chemical Composition
Waste Characteristics 76
Discussion Topics and Assignments 86

Landfills: How Do They Work? 89

Siting 89
Landfill Design: Anatomy of a Landfill 93
Operation 100
Landfill Dynamics: Decomposition 103
Leachate 107
Landfill Gas: An Exploitable Resource 111
Environmental Monitoring 117
Closure and Post-Closure Care 120
Future Developments 122
Discussion Topics and Assignments 123

Are There Better Disposal Methods? 125

Existing and Abandoned Mines: The Hole Is
Already There 125
Landfill Mining: "Play it Again, Sam" 130
Ocean Dumping: "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"
Deep-Well Injection 139
Injection with Hydrofracturing 140
Exotic Solutions 141
Summary 143
Discussion Topics and Assignments 144

Incineration: The Burning Issue 145

Types of Incinerators 147
Air Emissions 153

70

134

CONTENTS

What to Do with the Ash? 159

Other Factors 161
The Case Against Incineration 161
Discussion Topics and Assignments 164
10

Containment, Encapsulation, and Treatment 167

Plastics and Polymers 167
Clay Materials 171
Waste Treatment 173
Containing Wastes 175
Discussion Topics and Assignments 178

11

Case Histories 179

State-of-the-Art Recycling: The Guelph Wet-Dry
Recycling Centre 179
A Monster: The Fresh Kills Landfill 192
A Modern Nonhazardous Landfill:
East Carbon 197
An Open Pit Megaproject: Eagle Mountain
Landfill 201
An Integrated Hazardous Waste Facility:
Swan Hills 205
Nuclear Waste Disposal: The High-Tech
Approach 211
Burn Baby Burn: The Lancaster County
Incinerator 217
Conclusion 222
Discussion Topics and Assignments 223

12

The All-Powerful NIMBY 225

The Causes of NIMBY 226
Radioactive Waste: NIMBY on the Grandest
Scale 228
A Rare Success Story: Swan Hills, Alberta 235
Building an Equitable Siting Process 237
Discussion Topics and Assignments 244

13

A New Approach 245

Starting from Basics 245
Guidelines 247
Breaking Dependence on Near-Surface
Landfills 249

xiii

xiv

PREFACE

Change in EmphasisA New Waste Management

Hierarchy 251
Non-Technical Issues 252
Discussion Topics and Assignments 254
14

Futuristic Garbology: A Vision 257

Discussion Topics and Assignments 264
Glossary 265
References
Index 277

271

THE WASTE CRISIS

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1
WASTE

We are a wasteful lot on planet Earth. We do not mean to be, but

this is an inherent and unavoidable feature of human society. The
processes of living, eating, working, playing, and dying all utilize
consumer products whose production and use generate wastes.
Every candy bar has a wrapper; every apple has a core.
It is almost impossible to think of a process that does not create
some waste. There is sawdust from cutting lumber, metal shavings
from drilling and soldering circuit boards, sludges from chemical
processes, leftover food from restaurants, waste paper by the ton
from environmental hearings and other legal proceedings, dirty
diapers, and other household garbage. Societal wastes range from
the refuse produced by every family to highly toxic industrial wastes
from the production of specialized goods such as electronics, computers, cars, petrochemicals, and plastics. Virtually every aspect of
our daily lives generates waste. Waste cannot be avoided.
But what happens to all this waste?
Some of it is recycled. During the past ten years there has been
a growing realization that our globe is finite in its resources, and
that the environment is under considerable stress and is being
quietly but relentlessly despoiled. In response, streetside "blue
box" and other recycling programs have sprouted (see Figure 1.1).
Approximately 20% of municipal waste in North America is currently being recycled: metal cans are going back to smelters,
paper back to pulp mills, and glass and plastic to factories to be
turned into new products. Recycling programs are still expanding, and it is anticipated that in the future as much as 50%, and
perhaps even more, of all household and commercial waste will
be recycled.
3

THE WASTE CRISIS

1.1 Weekly garbage and recyclables at the curbside.

Some of the waste is incinerated. When this is accompanied by
generation of electricity or useful steam or heat, it can be viewed as
a form of recyclingthe conversion of waste to energy, a very useful product. It also helps preserve precious nonrenewable resources
such as gas, oil, and coal. Many people, however, are concerned
about the emissions that are released into the air and the ash that is
produced. About 18% of municipal solid waste in the United States
is currently being incinerated, with about 75% of the incinerators
generating energy (EPA, 1994). In Japan, approximately 34% of
municipal solid waste is incinerated (Hershkowitz & Salerni, 1987)
in Canada, the amount is less than 5%.
What happens to the waste that remains? As has been the practice for the past three millennia, almost all of it winds up in a landfill. Tens of thousands of landfills are dotted throughout North
America, the final resting spots for the wastes we create in our
everyday lives. Although efforts are now being made to reduce the
amounts of waste by recycling and incineration, landfills continue
to be the cornerstone of waste management. Figure 1.2 illustrates
the three main methods for dealing with waste.
We have been reliant on landfills for so long that we automatically accept that they are the proper way of dealing with wastes.
But is this really the case? Are landfills really serving our society
and the environment well? A closer inspection shows that landfills
are not the perfect solution that has been assumed.

WASTE
Magnitude of the Problem

The waste disposal problem is closely related to population growth

and urbanization. If we still lived in a world where every family
had access to large tracts of land, there would be no difficulty in
using a small fraction of the land for garbage disposal. But in this
age of urbanization the situation is quite different, with hundreds
of families often crammed onto a single acre.
A significant problem with landfills is simply their large numbers and the expanses of valuable real estate they occupy. Every city
and town has one or more operating or closed disposal sites, although in recent years there has been a trend to fewer, but much
larger, regional landfills. Industries and commercial operations have
also used landfills as integral parts of their operations.
New York City's only landfill, Fresh Kills, is the largest in the
world, covering an astonishing 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) and
reaching a height of 150 meters. Fresh Kills is built on a tidal flat,
with no underlying liner to prevent leachate from seeping into the
marine ecosystems. Aside from the damage to the environment, it
is not clear what New York will do once Fresh Kills has reached
full capacity.
Similar problems with waste disposal affect virtually all major
centers, including Paris, Tokyo, and Mexico City. Near Marseille
in France, Europe's largest waste dump spreads across 84 hectares
(210 acres) and has grown to a mountainous height.

1.2 Recycling, landfills, and incinerators: the main components of

waste management.

THE WASTE CRISIS

The total combined size of these landfills is mind-boggling. For

example, in 1991 the province of Ontario (population approx. 11
million) had approximately 3,690 municipal and industrial landfills (MOE, 1991a); 37% (1,360) were active operating landfills, and
63% (2,330) were closed landfills. In addition, there are many unrecorded landfills that are now abandoned and forgotten. It is estimated that Ontario's landfills occupy a volume of approximately
1.1 billion cubic metres and a surface area of about 29,600 hectares (74,000 acres). This area could hold more than 190,000 singlefamily homes or produce approximately 2,600,000 bushels of wheat
each year.
Even countries with seemingly unlimited wide-open spaces cannot afford to waste land on landfills. Although Canada occupies
the second largest land mass of the countries of the world, prime
agricultural land constitutes only about 0.8% of the total (about
72,090 square kilometers, slightly larger than the state of West
Virginia). Furthermore, 43% of the value of agricultural production in Canada comes from farmland within 80 kilometers of 22
major metropolitan centers. In other words, good agricultural land
is scarce, and much of it is close to major cities, placing it in direct competition with landfills, which are also close to the municipalities they serve.
land as a Dwindling Resource
One way of visualizing the importance of land as a resource is to consider
the amount of land that is available to each person on the globe. This is done
by dividing the iand area of the Earth (approximately 133 million square kilometers) by the total world population. Table 1,1 shows bow the amount of
land per person has changed since 1650.
We can see that by the year 2020, only 1 .5 hectares will be available to
provide space for housing, food production, waste disposal, and other needs
for each individual. And since much of the Earth's land surface is occupied
by mountains, deserts, Antarctica, and other unusable terrain, the amount
of land per person available for beneficial activities is actually much smaller.
Land is a diminishing resource that must be carefully protected.

Because decomposition generates explosive methane gas, and

waste settles over time, it will not be possible to build any structures over landfills once they are closed. This rules out urban, commercial, or industrial development. Contaminants inside the land-

WASTE

Table 1.1 Amount of land per person, 1650-2020.

Land Area per Person
Year
1650
1800
1900
1950
1990

2020

Hectares (Acres)
24
15
8.3
5.3
2.4
1.5

(60)
(38)
(21)
(13)
(6)
(3)

fills also preclude the use of these areas for agriculture. The vast
areas covered by North America's closed landfills will be unsuitable for anything but recreation. This land represents a very significant resource that will not be available to us, to our children, or to
many generations that follow. The situation is exacerbated since
almost all these landfills are situated near or inside urban centers,
where development pressure is greatest.
This unproductive use of land by surface landfills is contrary to
the principle of sustainable development. New and different waste
disposal approaches should be sought that conserve valuable land
resources.

Life Inside a Landfill

What happens inside these large piles of refuse called landfills?

Although out of sight, the waste is not as dormant as it appears to
the casual eye. Instead, a landfill has a life of its ownthe pulse is
slow, but it ticks quietly and resolutely. Deep inside, microbes are
feeding on organic materials and producing chemical changes.
Settlement takes place as the lower parts of the landfill are compressed by the weight from above. The landfill settles, festers, and
slowly decomposes.
Infiltrating rainwater leaches heavy metals from discarded batteries and other refuse to form a contaminated liquid that sooner or
later percolates downward and pollutes the underlying groundwater. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that
of the 75,000 landfills in the United States, 75% are leaking (Lee &

Jones, 1991). Damage to the groundwater is often very seriousand

usually irreversiblebecause landfills contain materials that are far
from benign.

THE WASTE CRISIS

The variety of wastes, particularly those that are harmful, is staggering. They include chemicals such as PCBs, lead, solvents, dioxins, DDT, benzene, CFCs, furans, and many more. Today around
45,000 different chemicals are produced by industry, and about
1,000 new ones are added each year. Unfortunately, many of these
chemicals are toxic: that is, they are poisonous to humans and can
also damage other parts of the complex and fragile environmental
web.
Landfills also cause atmospheric pollution. The decomposition
of waste creates gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, vinyl chloride, and hydrogen sulphide, which slowly seep into the air around
the landfill. This impairs air quality in the immediate vicinity and,
on a larger scale, contributes to the greenhouse effect and global
warming.
Even modern landfills that employ state-of-the-art technologies
such as liners and leachate collection systems are a problem. If they
are not leaking now, they will probably start leaking within a few
decades of their closure. The use of modern technologies simply
postpones the inevitable.

Looking for Solutions

In the past, convenience was the motivating factor in landfill siting

and design. The philosophy behind landfills was "out of sight and
out of mind." This approach has been used for centuries, and it may
have been acceptable when the Earth seemed infinitely large and
contained few people. Now, however, it is being increasingly recognized that near-surface landfills, the cornerstone of almost all
waste management systems, are not really out of sight and out of
mind; instead, they are inadequate and are placing a long-term burden on the environment.
But how do we avert the waste crisis that is quietly approaching? How do we break out of patterns that have been so firmly
entrenched?
This book does not have a magical solution, but it does provide
background and technical information so that the reader can understand the scope of the problem. More important, this book explores
a number of alternatives and tries to stimulate the reader to question the way things are currently being done and to search for new
and innovative solutions. We need to think "outside the box."

WASTE
Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. Arrange for a tour of your local landfill. What environmental impacts can you observe? What other environmental
impacts are you aware of?
2. It is estimated that by 2025 there will be 93 cities in the
world with populations exceeding 5 million. How will
these cities manage their solid waste?
3. What evidence is there that the human population has
reached or surpassed the size where the world can accommodate it?
4. Are you interested in a career in solid waste management?
Why? Identify the federal, state/provincial, and local agencies that are responsible for solid waste management in
your area. Which would you prefer to work for, and why?
Suggested Reading
Carson, Rachel. 1962. Silent Spring. Cambridge, Mass.: Riverside Press.
Goldsmith, E. A. R., Allaby, M., Davol, J., and S. Lawrence. 1972. Blueprint for survival. The Ecologist, 2, 1-43.
Horton, Tom. 1995. Chesapeake Bay: Hanging in the balance, National
Geographic, June, 2-35.
Lee, G. F., and R. A. Jones. 1991. Landfills and ground-water quality.
Groundwater, 29, 482-486.
Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., and W. W. III Behrens.
1972. The Limits to Growth (A Report to the Club of Rome). New
York: Universe Books.
Ward, B., and R. Dubos. 1972. Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet. New York: Norton.
Whitaker, J. S. 1994. Salvaging the Land of Plenty: Garbage and the
American Dream. New York: William Morrow.

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2
STARTING FROM BASICS

Sustainable Development

The landfill has been a child of convenience. Historically, waste was

simply dumped in depressions, ravines, and other handy locales
that were close to the population centers producing the waste. For
centuries this was an acceptable method, but two developments
caused serious environmental difficulties with this approach. First,
the enormous growth in population resulted in much more garbage
being generated, at the same time as land was becoming a scarcer
and more valuable resource. Second, the technological and consumer revolution led to the creation of many more hazardous productsparticularly synthetic organic substances such as pesticides,
PCBs, paint removers, and degreasers, which ultimately wound up
in landfills. Landfills grew bigger, and their contents were more
toxic than ever before. The child of convenience grew up and turned
into an environmental ghoul.
Instead of convenience, we need to seek methods of waste disposal that do not impair our environment, use up valuable resources,
or place limitations on future resources. Changing engrained habits is not an easy task. We need a revolution that sweeps aside the
old ways and introduces new concepts and technologies that are in
accord with philosophies that value and protect our environment.
Although the gravity of the situation is becoming recognized, and
some positive stepssuch as streetside recycling programsare
being implemented, there is still an enormous amount to be done.
Perhaps we need a different outlook on waste disposal. We should
seek disposal technologies and methods that protect the environment; furthermore, these methods must be based on fundamental
11

12

THE WASTE CRISIS

philosophies that the public understands, agrees with, and buys

into.
When we seek to redesign waste management, it is important to
start with the ultimate objectives firmly in mind. We need goals and
a set of rudimentary principles to guide us.
Many of us have read a science fiction novel in which a lonely
spaceship has been sent to explore a distant galaxy, hundreds of light
years away in the farthest reaches of the known universe. Even at
hyperspeeds, the spaceship must travel for centuries to reach its
destination, requiring several generations of crew to pass their lives
aboard the ship. To make this possible, the ship has been designed
to be totally self-contained. Energy is obtained by solar cells. The
spaceship recycles everything: no refuse is jettisoned; every molecule is recycled. The spaceship has attained the ultimate in selfreliance and sustainable development.
We need to set a similar goal of sustainability for spaceship Earth.
In fact, if the human race is to continue to grow and wants to survive, this vision must become reality. We are currently a long way
from achieving this goal.
Sustainable development is a concept that has received increasing acceptance in recent years and has become the cornerstone of
many government policies. The United Nations endorses sustainable development as the philosophy that should guide nations in
the conduct of their commercial and industrial activities. Since
waste management activities are a subset of the overall industrial
undertakings of society, it is important that they should also be
governed by this philosophy.
The concept of sustainable development can be viewed as the
integration of economic, social, and environmental systems. Conventional economics maximizes the goals of the economic and social systems, but sustainable development maximizes the goals of
all three systems.
The United Nations' World Commission on Environment and
Development defines sustainable development as follows (World
Resources Institute, 1992): "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
The sustainable development concept is generally applied to the
"front end" of the industrial cyclethe aim of ensuring that humans
can feed, clothe, house, and entertain themselves. It is particularly
relevant to preserving our diminishing stock of natural resources
such as forests, minerals, oil and gas, and fish stocks.

STARTING FROM BASICS

How Did Sustainable Development Evolve?

in the 1 970s, governments began to recognize that environmental probiems-such as the greenhouse effect ozone depletion, groondwater depletion and pollution, deforestation, desertification, and species extinctionwere
beginning to threaten the giobe. This concern was first articulated in the
United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in
1972, which established the United Nations Environment Program, whose
responsibility was to build environmental awareness and stewardship.
The independent World Commission on Environment and Development was
a!so established with the mandate to look at how development affected the
environment The commission was chaired by Gro Harlem Erundtiand, then
minister of environment and later prime minister of Norway, Their report,
Our Common future, was issued in 1987 and contained the first use of the
term "sustainable development" This concept soon captured the world's
imagination because it promised a solution to the dilemma of gioba! population growth and iimited environmental resources,
In 1988, more than 50 world leaders supported the report, and in 1992,
the first United Nations Conference on Environment and Developrnent, also
known as the Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro. The Earth Summit
provided enormous publicity and support for sustainable development and
many initiatives emerged to implement this concept. The initiatives led to
IS014000, the international protocols for companies to develop and incorporate environmental management systems.

Although the United Nations World Commission emphasizes

decreasing the pollution discharged by industrial plants, it does not
mention improving waste disposal practices. This "blind spot" is
typical of our society's "out of sight, out of mind" attitude toward
landfills.
Sustainable development must also be applied to the "back end"
of the consumer cycle: the management and disposal of wastes.
For example, leaking landfills degrade surface waters and groundwater, some of the most basic and valuable natural resources we
have. This is not sustainable development. The space occupied by
thousands of landfills displaces millions of acres of land from other
uses, such as agriculture and urban development. This is not sustainable development. Leaving a legacy of leaking landfills will
require our grandchildren to utilize their intellectual effort, their
time, and their resources to provide ongoing repairs and maintenance. This is not sustainable development. It is simply ignoring

13

14

THE WASTE CRISIS

the problem and, through procrastination, deferring it to our children and their children.
It is important that we alter our approach to pursue a complete,
holistic concept of sustainable development that includes not only
the natural resources at the front end, but also the disposal of wastes
at the back end. Sustainable development must form the cornerstone
of our approach to waste disposal in the future.
General Principles

We need to develop disposal systems that do not leave a legacy for

which our grandchildren must accept responsibility. Just as mathematicians construct a mathematical proof, we need to start with a
fundamental trutha fundamental principleand logically and
systematically build on it to emerge with a detailed action plan.
Based on the underlying principle of sustainable development,
three additional, more specific principles can be deduced for waste
management. Although these general principles appear simple and
almost self-evident, they provide powerful guidance to the practical design and development of waste management systems. They
are described below, with some preliminary discussion of how they
affect waste management and disposal.
Protect Health and Environment

Waste management and disposal must be conducted in a manner

that does not pose a risk to human health or the environment,
either now or in the future.
This principle places important constraints on the siting and design
of disposal facilities and also on the form of the waste. For example,
it effectively requires that leakage of leachate into groundwater and
emission of landfill gases into the atmosphere should be eliminated,
or at least reduced to an amount that the environment can assimilate
safely. Since the large majority of landfills either are or will soon be
leaking leachate and/or emitting gases in an uncontrolled fashion, the
implementation of this principle will not be simple. We will need to
look at dramatically different ways of disposing of our wastes.
Minimize the Burden on Future Generations

Wastes should be managed in a way that does not place a burden

on future generations.

STARTING FROM BASICS

This principle protects future resources. That is, our grandchildren

should not have to spend their time and effort looking after the
wastes bequeathed by our generation. This principle is a paraphrase
of the U.N.'s definition of sustainable development.
Conserve Resources

Nonrenewable resources should be conserved to the maximum

extent possible.
There are two ways in which this principle applies to waste management. First, the process of managing and disposing of wastes
should not consume nonrenewable resources. In particular, this
principle recognizes that land is a valuable natural resource that
must be protected.
Second, this principle requires that all useful resources should
be extracted from waste prior to disposal, to the extent practical.
The extraction of recyclable materials from waste also minimizes the
amount of waste that requires disposal, which has numerous benefits,
as we will see. This principle is another way of stating that recycling
is an important and fundamental part of waste management.
These three principles have been derived from the fundamental goal of integrating waste management with the philosophy of
sustainable development. The relationship is illustrated conceptually in Figure 2.1. In turn, more detailed guidelines can be derived from these principles. The combined principles and guidelines will provide a logical basis for planning and implementing
waste management systems, in contrast to the current de facto
principle of convenience.
We need a new approach to waste disposal that is based on the following
fundamental principles:
* Protect health and environment
* Minimize the burden on future generations
* Conserve resources

Public Involvement

Who is to blame for the looming waste crisis? The engineers and
scientists who design and build disposal facilities? The government
officials who develop and enforce regulations? The politicians

15

16

THE WASTE CRISIS

2.1 Sustainable development and the waste management principles.

whose jurisdictions own and operate these facilities? Or the public

who generate the waste and for whose benefit the waste facilities
are intended?
The answer is that we are all to blame. Wastes are very democraticthey are produced by each and every one of us, and so we
should all contribute to the solution. Because of the populist nature of waste, its management is very much a social problem. It is
not sufficient to understand the technical aspects; it is equally important to come to grips with the social and political issues. Interwoven with these are economic issues, and we must seek effective
solutions within practical cost limitations.
Unlike other complex projects, such as the space shuttle, effective future waste management cannot be turned over to a highly
skilled project team working with great focus and motivation but
in isolation. Instead, the public should be intimately involved in
the undertaking. Without their support, both directly and through
their elected representatives, no progress will be made. This marriage of technical and sociopolitical disciplines brings challenges
as well as fascination to the field of waste management.

STARTING FROM BASICS

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. "Sustainable development" has become a hot buzzword.

Keep track of how many times you see or hear it over a oneweek period, and in what context.
2. Do you think that sustainable development is as important
or fundamental as is generally thought? Why?
3. Identify some important benefits and drawbacks of living
in an advanced industrial country.
4. Do you feel that the world's population growth should be
reduced and the world's population stabilized as soon as
possible? What is an appropriate world population? What
policies should be instituted to accomplish this?
5. What are your responsibilities to future generations? List
important environmental benefits and detriments that have
been passed to this generation by predecessors. List important environmental benefits and detriments that this generation will pass to future generations.
Suggested Reading
Ehrlich, Paul R., and Anne H. Ehrlich. 1988. Population, plenty, and
poverty. National Geographic, December, 914-945.
Government of Canada. 1990. Canada's Green Plan for a Healthy Environment. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services.
Miller, G. T., Jr. 1990. Living in the Environment: An Introduction to
Environmental Science. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing
Company.
Turner, R. K. (editor). 1988. Sustainable Environmental Management:
Principles and Practice. London: Belhaven.
World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. Our Common Future (The Brundtland Report). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

17

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3
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
What Can We Learn?

More than any other single event, the seemingly endless wandering of the garbage barge Mobro 4000 symbolizes the frustrating situation we find ourselves in. The barge, laden with refuse from the
town of Islip on Long Island, New York, set sail on March 22,1987,
and roamed for 55 days from port to port down the Atlantic seaboard, along the coast of Central America, and into the Caribbean
in search of a place that would accept its smelly load. None would.
Eventually, after having traveled more than 9,600 kilometers, the
barge returned to New York, where the waste was finally incinerated and the ashes placed in a landfill.
A garbage crisis is at hand. The situation has not improved since
the Mobro incident. As a society we are generating far too much
waste, especially in North America. At the same time, places to
dispose of it are becoming limited. The public and politicians have
recognized the inherent dangers of existing landfills and are refusing to build new onesor, as in the case of the Mobro, they are refusing to accept any more waste than is necessary. How did we get
into such a mess?

Garbage through the Ages

The first recorded regulations to control municipal waste were

implemented during the Minoan civilization, which flourished in
Crete from 3000 to 1000 B.C. Solid wastes from the capital, Knossos,
19

20

THE WASTE CRISIS

were placed in large pits and covered with layers of earth at intervals (Wilson, 1977). This basic method of landfilling has remained
relatively unchanged right up to the present day.
In Athens, by 500 B.C. it was required that garbage be disposed
of at least 1.5 kilometers from the city walls. Each household was
responsible for collecting its own garbage and taking it to the disposal site.
The first garbage collection service was established during the
period of the Roman Empire. Householders tossed their refuse into
the streets, and then it was shoveled onto horse-drawn carts and
transported to an open pit, often located within the community. The
bodies of dead animals (and sometimes people) were buried in pits
outside the towns to spare inhabitants their odor.
After the decline of the Roman Empire, there was no organized
method of waste disposal in Europe for several centuries. Through
the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, as long as land was plentiful
and people were few, garbage was simply dumped in convenient,
out-of-the-way places and forgotten. The attitude through much of
history was that nature could take care of itself. This philosophy
manifests itself today in sayings such as "Dilution is the solution
to pollution," as well as in waste dumping into the oceans, which
are seen as vast, unspoilable resources.
As Europe's population grew and became more urbanized, land
and natural resources became scarcer, and the impact of garbage
became more significant. Sweepers were hired to rake refuse and
dung from city streets and load it into carts which carried it away
from the city. Another convenient way of removing garbage was
to throw it into waterways and rivers. This created many problems
and undoubtedly contributed to epidemics such as the Black
Death, which struck England in 1347. In 1388, the English Parliament banned the disposal of wastes into public waterways and
ditches, although the practice continued (illegally) well into the
19th century.
Europe, with its concentrated population and large cities,
began to experience a garbage crisis around 1500. At that time, garbage and offal from households, manure from stables, and refuse
from industry were simply dumped into the central gutter of the
street. Ravens, dogs, and pigs roamed the streets and lived well
by scavenging. It was reported that the garbage piled up so deep
outside the gates of Paris that it began to interfere with the city's
defenses.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

The Binds Death

The plague that took a greater toll of fife than any of Europe's wars or natural catastrophes was called, appropriately, the Black Death, Ravaging Europe
between 1347 and 1351, it killed as much as one~quarter of the population
of England in the initial outbreak. It is estimated that the ptegue may have
killed 25 million people out of a European population of 80 million. Originating in China, the plague was transmitted to Europe when a Chinese army
unit catapulted disease-infested corpses into an outpost that it was besieging in Crimea. The plague soon spread throughout Europe, exacerbated by
the poor sanitation of the time. There were recurrences of the plague every
few years until 1400. With its immense death toi, the Black Death affected
all aspects of life and caused significant social upheaval

By the 1700s, refuse had become a major problem and complaints

were numerous. In 1741, for example, Lord Tyrconnel described
the streets of London as "abounding with such heaps of filth as a
savage would look on with amazement." In 1832, outraged citizens
complained about streets in the vicinity of Westminster Abbey
which were "the receptacle of all sorts of rubbish which lay rotting
and corrupting, contaminating the air and affording a repast to a herd
of swine."
In the 19th century, wastes were still dealt with in the most rudimentary fashion: dumping in the streets or other convenient
places was the order of the day. Mounds of garbage rotted in the
streets and alleyways. Open burning of garbage by individual
homeowners and companies was a common practice. Increasingly,
public health officials linked sanitation practices such as inadequate garbage disposal to the incidence of disease and other health
risks in urban areas. A report published in England in 1842 linked
disease to filthy environmental conditions and helped launch the
"age of sanitation."
Support grew for municipalities to take control of urban wastes,
which had formerly been viewed primarily as an individual responsibility. In the United States, the modern concept of solid waste
management first emerged in the 1890s in response to the sanitation problems associated with rapid industrialization and urbanization in the second half of the nineteenth century (Blumberg &
Gottlieb, 1989).

21

22

THE WASTE CRISIS

America After the Turn of the Century

In North America, with a much smaller population density and less

industrialization, garbage problems were slower to evolve than in
Europe. Nonetheless, the need for proper sanitation and garbage
management was highlighted by an outbreak of yellow fever in
Memphis, Tennessee, in 1878 that claimed more than 5,000 people
out of a population of about 40,000. In response, Colonel George
Waring, Jr., installed a system of municipal sewers which had many
unique features, including daily flushing (Malone, 1936).
By the turn of the 20th century, a growing number of U.S. cities
provided at least a rudimentary level of solid waste collection and
disposal. Colonel Waring moved to New York City, where he became commissioner of the Department of Street Cleaning and implemented some far-reaching reforms that greatly improved the cleanliness of the city's streets. The rates of death and disease declined
substantially, particularly the incidence of diarrheal diseases.

George E. Waring, jr.-The First Garbage Hro

Born in 1833 in New York, George Waring studied agricultural chemistry. He
fought in the Civii War, gaining the rank of coionei. He is credited with In*
stalling sewer systems in Memphis, Tennessee, and, whtie street cleaning
commissioner for New York City, he introduced three-part separation and
coliection of garbage. Waring can be regarded as the first hero in a business
that Is not easily romanticized, it is ironic that he died in 1898 from yellow
fever, which he caught while studying ways to improve sanitation in Cuba,

A 1902 survey of 161 U.S. cities by the Massachusetts Institute

of Technology showed that 79% provided regular collection of
refuse. By 1915, 89% of major American cities had some kind of
garbage collection system, and by 1930 virtually all large cities
offered garbage collection services.
Once removed from urban centres, the wastes were disposed of
in a variety of ways, ranging from landfilling (the most popular
method) and water and ocean disposal to incineration. In some small
to medium-sized towns, piggeries were developed where swine
were fed fresh or cooked garbage.
There was a growing awareness that many of these waste management practices were inadequate. Water and ocean dumping came

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

under the strongest attack, and by 1933 ocean dumping had been
ruled illegal for municipal solid waste, although industrial and
commercial wastes were exempted. From the 1880s to the 1930s,
land dumping was the most prevalent method of waste disposal,
although concerns were already being raised about the health risks
associated with large open dumps. In the 1920s it was common to
landfill by reclaiming wetlands near cities, using layers of garbage,
ash, and dirt. It is interesting to note, though, that waste reduction
through source separation and recycling was very much in vogue
in the early 1900s.
An innovative method of waste management, introduced near the
turn of the 20th century, was reduction. This involved cooking garbage to extract a variety of marketable byproducts such as grease
and "tankage," a dried animal solid sold as fertilizer. However, many
of the plants did not attain their expectations, and there were odor
problems. Few reduction plants remained in operation after World
War I.
The British and the Germans led the way in developing the practice of incineration, both to reduce the volume of waste and to produce energy. The first systematic incineration of municipal garbage took place over a century ago in Nottingham, England in 1874
(Murphy, 1993). The first plant to generate electricity from incineration was developed in Great Britain in the mid-1890s. By 1912,
approximately 76 incinerators were generating electricity in Britain and another 17 were operating on the Continent.
Although a pilot incineration project was constructed in New
York City in 1905, it was not until the decade after 1910 that incineration came into widespread use in the United States. At its peak
in the 1930s, between 600 and 700 U.S. cities had constructed incinerators, and this became a significant method of disposal of
municipal waste.
Although alternative methods were tried, landfills remained the
most common form of waste disposal owing to the low cost of land
and the simple, inexpensive technology involved. Landfills were
generally established in shallow depressions, wetlands, and tidal
flats. In the early to mid-1900s there was not much technology involved. Underlying liners were almost never used, and the landfills were usually only a meter or so thick. (Figure 3.1 shows landfills operating in the early 1900s.) As landfills expanded, growth
took place horizontally and consumed large tracts of land. This
growth, along with the inherent dirtiness of landfills, inexorably led
to a conflict with urban development.

23

3.1 Historical photos showing landfills in early 1900 (Provided by

Wright Environmental Management Inc., original source unknown).

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
The Age of Consumerism and the Waste Explosion

Two developments in the post-World War II era led to significant

escalation in the problems of managing waste. First, a new phenomenon called "consumerism" emerged. A long period of prosperity,
combined with improvements in manufacturing methodsparticularly in mass productionled to rapid growth in the number and
variety of consumer goods. In addition, new marketing and production practices were introduced, such as planned obsolescence and
"throw-away" products. The growth of advertising, along with the
electronic media, played an important role in the evolution to our
society's current level of overconsumption. The end result was a
dramatic increase in the amount and variety of consumer goods
and, hence, garbage. To compound the problem, packaging became
a dominant force in the way goods were marketed, distributed, and
sold. Today, packaging represents more than one-third of the entire waste stream (Blumberg & Gottlieb, 1989).
The second development was the birth of the "chemical age,"
which resulted in a dramatic change in the composition of the waste
stream. The Japanese capture of the world's supply of rubber during World War II forced petrochemical companies to invent a wide
range of replacement products that could be manufactured from
crude oil. The petrochemical industry has grown explosively since
that time, yielding a vast array of new synthetic organic compounds,
including nylon, rayon, polystyrene, polyethylene, chlorinated organics such as polychlorinatedbiphenyls (PCBs), insecticides, and
a host of other toxic chemicals. A kind of pollution that had never
existed before entered the environment, and nature and humans are
having difficulties adapting to it (see, for example, Carson, 1962].
Although the age of consumerism led to a huge improvement in
lifestyle, it was accompanied by a dramatic increase not only in the
quantity of wastes generated, but also in their toxicity.

The ChemJeaf Industry

The chemical industry touches al! aspects of modern society. Cherrsicais are
used in the production of almost al! consumer goods, including medications,
cosmetics, appliances, fuels, plastics, electronic equipment,, pesticides, textiles, and much more. The raw material for most of these products is fossil
fuel, primarily petroleum and natural gas, so the chemieai industry is also

25

26

THE WASTE CRISIS

The Chemical industry (continued)

called the ''petrochemical" Industry, Petroleum and natural gas am fcymed
into intermediate-process chemicals, which in turn undergo a variety of reactions to produce new chemicaisend products such as paints or cleaning
fluids, or materials to manufacture other goods, such as plastics for computer
keyboards and telephones.
Before World War !i, there was virtually no manufacture of synthetic chemicals, but the petrochemical industry has grown vigorously since then. In 1950,
aboat 1.8 million metric torts of basic chemicals were produced; by 19S6,
annaat prodaction had riser* to nearly SO million metric tons. The variety of
new organic and hydrocarbon chemicals, sych as PCBs and pesticides, also
increased enormtxsfy over this period, accompanied by heavy pollution of
the environemtn

The globe and its ecosystems, which usually absorb changes over centuries and millennia, have never experienced such a sadden infusion of new
chemicals, it is not surprising that fragile ecosystems are under great stress.

Until the mid-1900s, landfills were little more than open pits
which were breeding grounds for rats and other vermin. Open burning was a common practice. These landfills were a public nuisance
as well as a health hazard because of the vermin, windblown litter,
odors, and out-of-control fires. Many landfills were near growing
urban areas and their water supplies. Not unexpectedly, public
opposition to these landfills began to grow.
To counter the mounting criticism, the concept of the "sanitary
landfill" was introduced in the 1950s. A sanitary landfill is usually
defined as an engineered method of disposing of solid wastes on
land by spreading the waste in thin layers, compacting it to the
smallest practical volume, and covering it with soil at the end of
each working day (Stone, 1977). The simple step of covering the
waste with a thin layer of earth at regular intervals was particularly
important: it alleviated problems such as uncontrolled fires, windblown refuse, and rodents.
Another important feature was the requirement for an "engineering method." This implied that scientific and engineering principles
were to be used, rather than simply dumping garbage in a convenient location. Data on waste quantities and generation rates, available cover soil, land use, transportation routes, and so forth were
to be used to assess the suitability of sites for a landfill. Further-

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

more, the design and construction of facilities were to take advantage of natural conditions to protect the environment.
Although it was a positive step, the sanitary landfill still had some
basic shortcomings. It did not satisfactorily address groundwater
contamination, gas emissions, and related health concerns. Furthermore, many communities continued open burning and open dumping. According to the U.S. federal Bureau of Solid Waste Management, 94% of all land disposal operations in the mid-1960s were
inadequate in terms of air and water pollution, insect and rodent
problems, and physical appearance.
By the 1970s and 1980s, there was growing recognition that
landfills were causing significant contamination of groundwater.
Groundwater, the supply tapped by wells, is a vitally important
resource which, when used as a drinking or irrigation supply, can
directly impact human health. The problem was compounded by
the fact that once groundwater becomes contaminated, it is exceedingly difficult to remediate.
Seeking solutions to the groundwater problem, landfill managers turned to technology and engineering. Although the basic landfill remained essentially unchanged, a number of features were
added. Bottom liners made of clays or synthetic materials such as
impermeable high-density polyethylene were introduced to stop
leachate from leaving the landfill. Caps made of similar materials
were placed over the landfill to decrease the infiltration of precipitation. In addition, engineered collection systems were installed to
capture leachate and gas. Monitoring of groundwater, surface water,
and gas emissions became a routine part of landfill operation.
In spite of these technical advances, there was continuing concern about groundwater contamination. Several studies during the
late 1970s pointed out that leaking leachate was a problem facing
all landfills. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated
that in 1990, there were about 75,000 landfills in the nation, and
more than 75% of them were polluting groundwaters with leachate
(Lee & Jones, 1991).
It was also recognized that even state-of-the-art municipal landfills with double liners and other modern leachate containment
systems would fail eventually. The increased use of engineering
techniques would only postpone, not prevent, the onset of groundwater contamination.
Awareness grew of the hazard that municipal landfills pose. The
concentration and toxicity of the pollutants found at municipal
sanitary landfills were seen as capable of causing as great a risk of

27

28

THE WASTE CRISIS

cancer as those from industrial waste landfills (Brown & Donnelly,

1988). In addition to grass clippings and old newspapers, the sites
contained toxic chemicals in the form of used motor oil, oil-based
paints, batteries, cosmetics, solvents (including oven cleaners and
fingernail-polish remover), pesticides, tires, and much more. These
substances contain chlorinated organic compounds such as vinyl
chloride and trichloroethylene, as well as heavy metals, copper, and
lead. Vinyl chloride is a gas that can cause liver cancer and neurological disorders, and lead can damage the nervous and reproductive systems (Parmeggiani, 1983).
Incinerators had been in vogue during the 1930s. The U.S. Air
Quality Act of 1967, however, introduced new air emission standards that forced operators of older incinerators to add air pollution devices such as scrubbers and precipitators. Since incinerators
were already more expensive and capital-intensive than landfills,
this act essentially priced incineration out of the market. Within five
years of the act, 100 incinerators had been shut down, and nearly
all the rest followed within the next few years.
The 1970s were a decade of transition in the solid waste arena
in North America. Landfills were coming under increasing attack,
and the promise of energy-from-waste incinerators had not been
fulfilled. The consumerism lifestyle and a long period of affluence
led to the production of unprecedented amounts of garbage. By the
1980s, a crisis atmosphere had developed. The public recognized
that municipal wastes were not being managed adequately. Waste
volumes were growing, landfills were polluting the groundwater,
and incinerators were expensive and were polluting the air. Serious environmental incidents at Love Canal, New York, Times Beach,
Missouri, and Glen Avon, California, although not involving municipal landfills, served to focus public and media attention on all
environmental issues.

The Crisis

In 1976, the U.S. Congress passed the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (RCRA). Although much of the act dealt with hazardous wastes, Subtitle D addressed municipal solid waste. It required
the Environmental Protection Agency to set standards for landfills
based on adverse affects on health or the environment, while the
states were required to catalog their open dumps and either bring
them up to standards or shut them down. A period of five years was

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

allowed for shutting down noncompliant landfills and dumps. This

timetable caused a crisis at local levels and led to protracted legal
battles to find new sites or extend the capacity of existing ones.
By the 1980s, the problem of waste disposal was a national
issue which permeated all levels of government. To deal with this
crisis, a plethora of laws were passed, creating a complex regulatory environment in which federal, state, regional, and local agencies had the authority to review and authorize landfills and other
waste management facilities.
The number of municipal landfills in the United States dropped
dramatically, from about 20,000 in 1979 to about 5,300 in 1993
(Miller, 1997). The primary cause was the stringent new guidelines,
reinforced by an inability to site new landfills in the face of growing public opposition to having landfills in their communities.
hi this setting, it is understandable that incineration with production of energy would appear to be an attractive alternative. In
the early to mid-1980s interest in incineration reawakened, and
approximately 100 new plants were committed and another 200
planned in the United States.
Resource recovery, in the form of recycling and energy recovery
through incineration, also became popular in the mid-1980s. Today,
most North American communities operate streetside or "blue box"
programs for fine paper, cans, plastics, newspapers, and cardboard.
The specific collection of household hazardous wasteseither on
periodic collection days or at special collection siteshas also become a standard part of municipal waste service.
The importance of selecting a site that minimizes the environmental impact of a landfill began to be recognized in the 1980s. New
siting criteria emphasized the importance of sites that were well
above the groundwater table, that were not in groundwater recharge
zones, that had low hydraulic gradients, that were not in natural
flood areas, and that had natural impermeable clay formations to
prevent contaminant migration. Over the past 15 years, the siting
of landfills has become a sophisticated process which incorporates
technical as well as social and political concerns. Continuing improvement in the siting process has greatly restricted the locations
where landfills can be placed.
The construction of new landfills was about to become even more
difficult. As urban areas expanded rapidly, it was only a matter of
time until serious opposition to landfills began to mount. Community and neighborhood groups emerged in the 1980s and began to
organize with a very specific goal in mindto stop the construe-

29

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THE WASTE CRISIS

tion of landfills (or any other waste facility) in their areas. Their
community protests were augmented by litigation and lobbying,
which took advantage of the plethora of laws and regulations being
issued. This was very much a grass-roots development.
Although centered in the neighborhoods that were directly involved, the networks and coalitions established included practitioners adept in the politics of democratic mobilization. They
could respond effectively to requests and provide assistance from
other areas. The opposition to landfills and related waste management facilities, such as incinerators, has been highly successful
in either stopping projects altogether or delaying them for a long
time.
It is now a fact of life that any new waste management project
will be met by strong local opposition. This kind of opposition has
been dubbed NIMBY ("Not In My Back Yard"). People seeking a
career in solid waste management need to have a good understanding of this phenomenon and how to work with it. The NIMBY phenomenon is discussed further in chapter 12.
The resistance to landfills has been effective, and few new landfills have been constructed during the 1990s. This has caused existing landfills to grow largerusually upwardas their ability to
expand horizontally has been limited. The end result is often negative, because many of these older landfills, which have now become
superdumps, do not have adequate liners or are not situated in
places where the environment can be protected.

Summary of Landfill Evolution

Landfill design evolved as a series of responses to problems. Only

when a problem was identified or reached a sufficient level of concern were corrective steps taken. These improvements were invariably driven by regulatory requirements.
The evolutionary process in landfill design has been relatively
simple and has involved only three significant changes, which are
summarized in Table 3.1.
The first was the implementation of daily cover in the "sanitary" landfill, a response to the problem of odors, windblown
refuse, open and uncontrolled fires, and rodents and other animals.
These problems are categorized as health/nuisance factors. The
term "sanitary" was somewhat optimistic, given the problems that
remained unresolved.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

Table 3.1 Summary of landfill evolution

Date

Development

Problems

Improvements

1970s

Sanitary landfill

Mid 1980s

Engineered landfill

Health/nuisance,
i.e., odor, fires,
litter
Groundwater
contamination

Late 1980s

Improved siting

Daily cover,
better compaction,
engineered approach
Engineered liners,
covers, leachate and
gas collection systems
Incorporation of
technical, sociopolitical factors into
siting process

Future (?)

Groundwater
contamination

Air emissions,
long-term safety

(?)

The second major step was the development of engineered liners and covers, both synthetic and natural, as major components of
a landfill, in response to concerns about groundwater contamination. Although a positive step, these are now seen as only short-term
solutions.
The third major step was not an improvement in design, but
rather a recognition that a landfill forms a system integrated with
its surrounding environment. This recognition led to significant
improvements in the siting process and the location of landfills.
It is interesting to speculate how landfills will evolve in the future. To do so, we must identify the problems that remain unresolved. One of these, air emissions, is just beginning to rise to the
level of public concern. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has recently formulated standards for the collection and control of landfill gases. With the global issues of ozone-layer depletion,
global warming, and ground-level smog, there will undoubtedly be
a spread of EPA standards to other countries and jurisdictions. We
can predict that in response to these regulations, numerous new
emission-control technologies will be developed.
Another area of future concern, and one that will be explored
further in later chapters, is the integrity of landfills over the long
termseveral centuries. Landfills at the ground surface and near
the major urban centers they service provide safety only for the
short term, even when they are well sited and have the latest engineered improvements. They simply cannot withstand the longterm effects of natural erosion and the remorseless encroachment
of urbanization.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

In summary, we are caught in a two-pronged problem: we generate too much waste, and we dispose of it inadequately. It is time
for a hard, critical look at how we approach this problem, with a
recognition that we must take some drastic steps and use some different strategies.

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. From historical records, trace the evolution of waste disposal/management in your community or region over the
past 50 years (or longer, if possible). Identify the major
changes that have occurred, and explain why.
2. Waste management technology has not kept pace with the
advances seen in other sectors, such as transportation and
communications. Why is this so? What can be done to rectify the situation?
3. Identify and discuss new issues that will become important in solid waste management in the next few decades.
4. How do you think that incinerator technology will evolve
and improve in the future?
5. Brainstorm ways of improving the landfill to provide better long-term containment and safety.
Suggested Reading
Brimblecombe, P. 1987. The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in
London since Medieval Times. London: Methuen.
Murphy, Pamela. 1993. The Garbage Primer. New York: League of
Women Voters, Lyons & Burford.
Wilson, D. G. 1977. The history of solid waste management. In Handbook of Solid Waste Management, edited by D. G. Wilson. New
York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

4
INTEGRATED WASTE
MANAGEMENT
More than Just Landfills

What Is Integrated Waste Management?

Just as a general fights a battle with tanks, infantry, artillery, and

air support, the campaign against waste also requires an arsenal of
many weapons. Instead of relying solely on landfills, as has been
done since time immemorial, the industry is developing an integrated waste management strategy. The objective is to minimize
impact on the environment by employing all possible waste management technologiesespecially reduction/reuse/recycling and
incinerationin addition to landfills.
An integrated waste management strategy is required by law in
many jurisdictions and is now being used in most North American
communities. Most U.S. states, for example, have made recycling
mandatory and have established goals for reducing waste per capita
by 25% to 50% over a period of four to ten years. In Canada, a comprehensive waste reduction plan established in the province of
Ontario in 1991 has the goal of reducing the amount of waste going
to disposal by at least 50% per capita by the year 2000, compared
to the base year of 1987. The goal is to be achieved through implementing the "three Rs": reduction (10%), reuse (15%), and recycling
(25%). Some jurisdictions have set even higher goals; for example,
Seattle is aiming to reduce waste going to landfill by 60% by the
year 2000.
An integrated waste management plan follows the life cycle of
consumer products from cradle to grave, seeking to maximize the
useful life of the resources that are involved. A complete suite of
elements that might be used in an integrated waste management

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THE WASTE CRISIS

system is illustrated in Figure 4.1, although any municipality may

utilize only some of these.
1. Source reduction: The objective is to reduce the amount of
waste that is created in the first place. This can be accomplished in
a number of ways: purchasing products with minimal packaging;
developing products that are more durable and easily repaired; substituting reusable products for disposable single-use products; or
implementing tax and other economic measures to encourage producers to generate less waste and use fewer resources. For source
reduction to have a significant impact, society needs to turn away
from the current consumer preference for once-through, disposable,
and limited-life products.
2. Reuse: This means reusing a product rather than discarding
it. Examples include repairing old appliances, refurbishing old furniture, repairing old automobiles, and refilling bottles (as is currently done to a limited extent with soft drink, beer, and wine
bottles).
3. Recycling: The objective is to convert waste materials into a
usable form. Examples include the recycling of paper, metal and
aluminum cans, glass bottles, and plastic, as is commonly being
done through blue-box programs. Composting is another example
of recycling: organic waste materials such as yard debris are converted into useful garden mulch.
4. Incineration: The process of burning rubbish has been employed for centuries because it destroys putrescibles (garbage that
rots) and significantly decreases the volume of waste requiring disposal. When accompanied by the capture of heat energy for generation of electricity, district heating, or other purposes, it can be
viewed as a form of recycling. In fact, it is often called the "fourth
R." Incineration and its pros and cons are described in chapter 9.
5. Treatment: Wastes can be chemically or physically treated
prior to disposal to improve their properties. Treatment can
reduce the toxicity of waste, remove further useful components,
and improve waste properties for disposal. For example, incinerator ash can be fixed in concrete to make it more leach-resistant
prior to placing it in a landfill. Waste treatment is discussed in
chapter 10.
6. Landfilling: Ultimately, some waste will remain, even after
vigorous application of the other strategies. This waste will be
placed in landfills, since no disposal alternatives are currently in
common use. The technical details of landfills are described in

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT

4.1 Block diagram illustrating the overall waste management

system.

chapter 7, and a number of case histories are presented in chapter

11. But the landfill does not necessarily represent the end of the
road. Although it is not commonly done, landfills can be exhumed
(landfill mining) and their contents recycled and/or incinerated for
energy.
The design and implementation of an integrated waste management system is a complex undertaking and must take into account
many factors, including demographics, market accessibility for recycled products, and the availability of land and other resources.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

A process should be established for communicating with the public so that their input can be obtained and incorporated into the
master plan.

Comparative Cost AnalysisApples and Oranges?

In designing an integrated waste management system, it is necessary to select a combination of various technologies. Currently, the
choices are relatively restricted and are limited primarily to landfills, incinerators, and material recycling centres (which may include composting]. Invariably, the financial cost of these facilities
and their associated support programs plays a large, if not the largest,
role in the selection process. Thus, no book on waste management
would be complete without a discussion of finances.
Although some absolute cost values are included here, they will
soon be out of date, so emphasis is placed on comparative or relative costs. In addition, "hidden" environmental costs are described.
Traditionally, the overall price of a specific facility is estimated
by adding the costs of each major phasesiting, construction, operation over a 20- to 40-year lifetime, and decommissioning. It should
be noted that, because of the NIMBY syndrome, siting has become
a major fraction of the total cost. Allowance is also made for the sale
of energy or recyclable goods, as appropriate.
When financial analyses are done, landfilling appears attractive
and is often more economical than incineration or recycling. Typical landfill tipping fees (charged to haulers) range from $25 to $70
per tonne (metric ton), whereas the cost of waste incineration with
energy recovery is in the range of $40 to $100 per tonne. Recycling
costs vary significantly from place to place and time to time, depending on the vagaries of the recyclable commodity market, but
they typically range from $40 to $90 per tonne.
The costs of a modern 1100-tonne-per-day energy-from-waste incinerator in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, are presented in chapter 11. The capital cost, including siting and licensing, was $110
million. The operating cost is approximately $9.5 million per year,
which is more than offset by electricity sales of about $12 million
per year and the sale of ferrous metal (reclaimed from the ash) for
$200,000 per year.
The costs for a modern recycling center in Guelph, Ontario,
which includes composting, are presented in chapter 11. The cost
of the center was $27 million, which included pilot studies, per-

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT

mits, the truck fleet, and land costs. Once full capacity is reached,
the annual operating cost will be $3.7 million. This will be offset
by revenue from sale of recyclables at about $4.4 million per year,
yielding an operating profit of approximately $700,000 per year.
The low cost of disposing waste in landfills is due primarily to
two factors. First, landfills involve relatively low technology; they
are essentially large earth-moving exercises. By contrast, the other
facilitiesparticularly incineratorsinvolve high technology, with
control rooms, complex machinery, and high temperatures and pressures that must be carefully monitored. Second, recycle centers and
incinerators require up-front capital, because they must be constructed before they can be used, whereas the capital cost of a landfill is spread over its lifetime. Landfills have lower ongoing operating
costs owing to their relative simplicity. Furthermore, the financial
outcome of incinerators and recycle centers is often complicated by
the cyclic and unpredictable marketing of energy and recyclables. The
bottom line is that, from a financial perspective, landfills frequently
look like the way to go. Since we live in a capitalist, free market
economy, does this not logically tell us to place all our waste in
landfills?
Wrong! Traditional financial analyses omit several important
factors.
First, landfills are effectively permanent facilities; that is, they
will need to be monitored and maintained for centuries after they
close. The full perpetual-care cost is seldom included in tipping fees.
Even when post-closure costs are included, they seldom consider
a time frame greater than 20 years. In contrast, incinerators and
material recycle facilities are temporary structures: once their useful lifetimes (usually two to four decades) are over, they can be
decommissioned and dismantled, and the land can be sold and put
to other beneficial uses. Not only is a perpetual-care fund not required, but income is also gained through sale of the land.
But the most crucial factor is the cost of damage to the environment. It is becoming recognized that the value of Earth's natural
ecosystems and the "services" they provide is not fully captured
in commercial markets in the way that economic services and
manufactured commodities are valued (Costanza et al., 1997). Ecosystems contribute toindeed, are essential forhuman welfare,
and thus they represent part of the total economic value of the
planet. Costanza et al. (1997) estimated the current economic value
of the biosphere (most of which is outside the traditional market)
to be approximately $33 trillion (1012) per year, which is almost

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THE WASTE CRISIS

double the global gross national product! This value is seldom

included in economic analyses, and as a result, environmental
considerations are not adequately represented in policy decisions.
Material recycle centres are an excellent example of how standard economics do not include the value of our ecosystem. The
arguments in their favor are compelling: recycle centres reduce the
size of the entire waste management problem; they reduce demand
for energy; they reduce pollution of land, air and water; and they
conserve scarce raw materials. Yet recycling is not all that successful, and in many municipalities the cost of recycling programs is
greater than that of landfilling.
To reflect properly the value of Earth's ecosystems, additional cost
factors should be included in financial analyses of waste management
facilities. For example, landfill costs should be increased to account
for (1) permanent loss of land resource, (2) impairment of groundwater by leaking leachate, and (3) degradation of the Earth's atmosphere by gas emissions. Similarly, the cost of incinerators should
include a factor for degradation of the atmosphere by gas emissions.
In contrast, material recycle facilities may not be assessed any such
"environmental" cost, since they do not appear to cause any appreciable long-term damage to ecosystems.
Unfortunately, ecosystem values are not readily included in financial analyses at present because commonly accepted methods
and costs are not available. It is urged that economists undertake
the necessary research to rectify this situation.
The inability to assign quantitative costs to environmental factors in waste management facilities does not mean that these factors should be ignored. Instead qualitative methods, such as weighting factors and preferences, should be applied.

How Much Recycling Is Achievable? Exploding the Myth

The argument is often put forth that there is no need for incinerators or landfills: recycling, source reduction, and other conservation efforts will eliminate all garbage. This approach seeks a return
to the recycling and conservation ethic that was very successful in
the early 1900s and during the two world wars.
It is questionable whether this idealistic goal can be achieved.
But how much of our municipal waste actually can be recycled?
Some idea of what is practically achievable is necessary for planning effective integrated waste management programs.

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT

In consideration for our environment, we should be aiming for

the ultimate target of no waste emplacement in landfills. As discussed in chapters 13 and 14, it is conceivable that this idealistic
target may be met at some time in the future. At present, however,
and in spite of much ballyhoo, very few communities in North
America are exceeding 50% waste diversion, with most in the 15%
to 40% range; the national average is approximately 21%. Can these
numbers be increased? And by how much?
The Big Picture

Let us look at this question from a large-scale perspective. Figure

4.2 summarizes in graphic form the quantities of municipal solid
waste generated in the United States, and how this has been managed from 1960 to 2000 (EPA, 1994).
The most significant point to be gleaned from Figure 4.2 is that
the total amount of waste generated in the United States has increased each year and will continue to do so. The steady growth in
garbage is due primarily to increasing population.
However, the rate of growth in total garbage slowed down after
the mid-1980s, when the current era of the three Rs began, with the
expansion of incineration, composting, and recycling programs.
These programs are being vigorously promoted, so that by the year
2000 they will be diverting more than twice as much waste from
landfills as they were diverting in 1985.

Motherhood, Apple Pie, and Recycling?

Although recycling is now accepted as the equivalent of motherhood and
apple pie in terms of the "correct* approach to conserving resources, things
are not always as simple as they seem.
A comprehensive life-cycle study of paper recycling in Europe yielded some
surprising results (Virtanen and Nilsson, 1993), The study concluded that a
balanced combination of paper recycling and energy recovery through waste
incineration was most appropriate from an overall economic and environmental standpoint, A major factor is that incinerating paper, a renewable
resource, saves fossil fuels, a nonrenewable resource. Furthermore, burning
paper is cleaner than burning fossii fuels, which contain much higher concentrations of sulfur and other contaminants. Paper constitutes about 3S%
of household waste volume.

39

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THE WASTE CRISIS

4.2 Municipal solid waste generated in the United States from 1960
to 2000.

The data from Figure 4.2 are summarized in Table 4.1 for the
years 1985 and 2000. It is seen that the amount of waste going to
landfill is reduced by only 23 million tonnes, or about 18% over
this period, in spite of the vigorous growth in three Rs programs.
Significant gains are being made in waste diversion, but these
serve largely to offset the growth in garbage generation caused by
population increase. As a result, only a small net decrease in waste
going to landfill has been achieved.
Dramatic future decreases in the amount of waste going to landfill seem unlikely, because North America's population is projected
to continue growing, and because the easy methods for recycling
have already been implemented, so further decreases will become
ever more difficult. That is, the law of diminishing returns will start
to play a role. Even if amazing new technologies for diverting waste
from disposal were developed, it would still be many decades before our reliance on landfills could be broken.
The conclusion is inescapable: for the foreseeable future, the three
Rs, important as they are, are not the complete solution to waste
management. To make a really significant dent in total waste volume, additional methods are required.
The only technology that is currently capable of making such a
contribution is incineration. Furthermore, even with vigorous recycling programs coupled with waste incineration, there will still
be a need to dispose of wastes, albeit in smaller quantities, into
landfills.

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT

Table 4.1 Waste being recycled, incinerated, and landfilled in the

United States of America (millions of tons).
Year

Recycled*

1985

18 (11%)

2000
61 (31%)
"includes composting

Incinerated

Landfilled

Total

18 (11%)

124 (78%)

160

36 (18%)

101 (51%)

198

Practical Experience

The recent era of the three Rs began in the mid-1980s. Initially, waste
management plans were made with recycling targets of 50%; many
communities even set targets of 60% to 70%. Since that time, experience has provided a factual basis for projecting maximum three
Rs capacities. Currently, rates between 25% and 40% are typical
in most communities. A few municipalities are achieving close to
50% waste recycling. Further gains, however, require increasingly
more investment of resources as well as changes in consumer behavior. Almost no community has gone significantly beyond 50%
waste recycling. It is clear that the law of diminishing returns has
come into play. Even though 50% waste reduction through three
Rs programs looks achievable, movement significantly beyond that
figure appears neither technically achievable (for certain wastes),
nor practical in terms of the costs that would be involved (Pratt,
1995).
Although a good start has been made since the mid-1980s in
(re)introducing recycling as a major part of how we manage solid
waste, there is still a long way to go. In fact, in some areas movement may have regressed. In 1964, 89% of all soft drinks and
50% of all beer in the United States were sold in refillable glass
bottles. By 1993, refillable bottles made up only about 7% of the
market, and were used in only ten states. This is in stark contrast
to Europe: in Denmark, the use of nonrefillable beverage containers has been banned; in Finland, 95% of soft drink, beer, wine,
and spirits containers are refillable; and in Germany, this number
is 73%.
Another example of North American consumer resistance to
waste reduction is the use of shopping bags. There has been considerable debate on whether plastic or paper bags are more environmentally friendly. Lost in the rhetoric is the simple fact that
neither should be usedconsumers should be bringing their own
reusable bags. In the Netherlands, stores charge for supplying bags.

41

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THE WASTE CRISIS

An Example of a Conserver Society

In Japan, the waste crisis was recognized as a national problem

shortly after World War II. In response Japan developed the most
comprehensive and successful recycling programs in the world.
These can provide a realistic target of what is achievable.
Geography has imposed severe restrictions on Japan. It is an
island nation with a small land mass and a large population. Approximately 1,400 people live on every square kilometer of habitable land, compared to only 50 persons per square kilometer in
the United States. Thus, land is far too scarce a resource to waste
on landfills.
With limited natural resources, Japan has tried vigorously to
reduce its dependence on foreign raw materials by conserving and
recycling to the maximum extent possible. For example, between
1980 and 1985, Japan imported 99.8% of its oil, 92% of its coal,
and 65% of its lumber. Conservation is far ahead of what is practiced in North America.
In spite of its exemplary efforts, Japan has achieved recycling
rates of only about 50%. Furthermore, Japanese officials believe that
there is very little potential for further improvement; they feel that
perhaps another 3% or so can be achieved (Hershkowitz & Salerni,
1987). (It should be noted that composting makes only a minimal
contribution to Japanese recycling, with less than 0.2% of municipal waste being composted.)
To protect their valuable land resources from being used for landfills, the Japanese have turned to incinerators to complement their
strong recycling programs. In the 25 years up to 1987, they built
1,900 incinerators, of which 69% (by capacity) generate energy
(Hershkowitz & Salerni, 1987). In spite of concerns about dioxin
emissions, air quality, and emissions from older plants, they have
decided that incinerators must play a vital role in municipal waste
management.
The overall goal in Japan is to reduce the amount of waste
going to landfill. The success of their program is illustrated in
Table 4.2, which compares the proportions of municipal waste
recycled, incinerated, and landfilled in the United States, Canada,
and Japan.
In North America, we need to emulate the Japanese approach. We
must treat waste as a resource, a valuable economic commodity.
We need to apply education, awareness, and "sanitary literacy" to
achieve a strong waste reduction and recycling ethic.

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT

Table 4.2 Comparison of U.S., Japanese, and Canadian municipal

waste management

Recycled
Incinerated
Landfilled

U.S. (1995)
%

Japan (1987)
%

Canada(1995)
%

21

50
34
16

21
4
75

20
59

The Bottom Line

In summary, waste reduction and recycling efforts are a critically

important part of waste management. They are not, however, the
complete solution: they will not eliminate all, or even most, of the
waste generated by society for many decades, if ever. Even Japan,
which has long faced enormous pressures to conserve, has achieved
only about 50% waste recycling.
Furthermore, the quantity of waste generated in North America
is continually increasing because of our growing population. Recycling alone simply cannot cope with this growing pile of garbage.
The only technology available today that contributes (together
with recycling) to a significant diversion of wastes from landfills is
incineration. Japan, and some communities in North America (see
the Lancaster County case history in chapter 11), have shown that
incineration and recycling are compatible and can be used together
in meeting the overall goal of reducing our reliance on landfills. The
two methods do not compete; they can be a compatible pair.

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. How is solid waste managed in your community? What

fractions are landfilled, recycled, composted, incinerated,
and exported? Have any of these methods had negative
impacts on local people? How could the overall system be
improved?
2. What recycling is being done in your community? Is the
program successful? How can the program be improved to
(a) collect a greater fraction of recyclables, and (b) to make
it more cost-effective?
3. A hypothetical community of 50,000 currently has no recycling programs. They wish to comply within three years

43

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THE WASTE CRISIS

with the new state law requiring 30% diversion. How

would you go about gathering data and preparing and
implementing an integrated waste management plan?
4. Make a list of all the garbage that you discard over one
week. How much of this did you recycle? How much more
could have been recycled (with perfect recycling facilities)?
Put the information on a spreadsheet, and compare it with
data from classmates or colleagues. Repeat this exercise at
other times of the year to see what effect the seasons have
on your domestic garbage production.
5. A financial analysis of landfills should include the environmental cost of permanent loss of land, groundwater
impairment, and atmospheric pollution. What factors should
be considered in determining a dollar value for each of
these? What dollar value would you assign for each?
Suggested Reading
Haun, J. W. 1991. Guide to the Management of Hazardous Waste:
A Handbook for the Businessman and the Concerned Citizen.
Golden, Col.: Fulcrum Publishing.
Hershkowitz, A., andE. Salerni. 1987. Garbage Management in Japan:
Leading the Way. New York: Inform Inc.

5
RECYCLING AND
COMPOSTING
Making a Molehill
Out of a Mountain

Kecycling, which includes composting, is the current rage. Almost

every community in North America has established some kind of
recycling program in the past few years. This chapter focuses on
the science and technologies that are involved in recycling programs
and explores what is needed to make these programs successful.

Recycling

This section describes the part of recycling that is associated with

blue-box or streetside programs. It includes paper, cardboard, metal,
aluminum, and plastics; composting is described in the next section.
Factors for Success

A successful waste recycling program relies on more than a systematic application of equipment and other resources. It also depends
very significantly on attitude. It is vital that everyone participate.
To achieve a meaningful level of participation, some degree of
legislative guidance may be necessary. In fact, studies have shown
that mandatory recycling programs are much more effective than
those run on a voluntary basis (Platt et al., 1991). Legislation or
bylaws can also be used to
stipulate that soft-drink, beer, wine, and other bottles be
reused
45

46

THE WASTE CRISIS

require the use of recycled material in manufacturing new

products
avoid excessive packaging
reduce tipping fees for recyclable or compostable materials brought to designated drop-off sites
set higher tipping fees for waste from which recyclables
have not been removed
ban the landfilling of certain substances, such as yard
wastes
Public education is an indispensable part of an integrated waste
management system. First, the public must be informed of the details that involve them: what days pickups are made, how to obtain
recycle containers, what materials can be recycled, how they are to
be sorted, and so on. This information can be disseminated by flyers, newsletters, ads in the local paper, features on local television
channels, and telephone hot lines.
Second, an ethic of conservation should be instilled so that people
will want to participate in three Rs programs. Methods of achieving this objective include videos and slide shows at schools, posters, buttons, and awards to businesses and groups that make outstanding contributions to recycling. These programs need to spell
out clearly the benefits to the participants, to their children and
grandchildren, and to the environment that arise from conserving
resources in an environmentally responsible manner.
The operational aspects of waste management begin with collection of refuse from residential areas, apartment buildings, businesses,
and industries. This is the interface between the waste generators and
the waste management system. Today, most communities have some
form of blue-box program to collect recyclables in addition to regular municipal waste. The collection program represents a significant cost as well as a formidable logistical exercise. It is essential
that the waste generatorsthe customersknow what is to be put
out and how it is to be sorted and separated.
Recycling Snippets
Recycling one aluminum can saves the energy equivalent of half a litre of
gasoline, which is about 20 km of driving,
Recycling one glass bottle saves the energy equivalent of burning a 100waft iightbulb for 4 hours.

RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING

Recyeling Snippets (continued)

Recycling 54 kilograms of papaer saves one tree.
30 milon liters of ol! are sold in Ontario each year. Less than 1 million liters
are recycled, Where does the rest go?

Issues that must be addressed include the following:

Does one truck pick up both regular garbage and recyclables,
or are separate trucks required? Clearly, the costs escalate
significantly if two different fleets are used, or even if the
same trucks must be sent out on two different trips to the
same area. Some communities have found a clever solution
to this problem by attaching trailers to the backs of their
regular garbage trucks. Specialized trucks are available
which can be operated by one person who does both the
driving and waste collection; these trucks have two or more
separate internal compartments, each with its own compacting and tipping capability.
Are garbage and recyclables picked up on different days?
Clearly, the most economical solution is to combine the
pickups. Aside from the expense of having the garbage/
recycle trucks make two trips, it has been shown that public participation is lower if they must put out recyclables
on a different day than regular garbage.
Should garbage and recyclable pickup be on different schedulessay garbage weekly, and recyclables biweekly? Substantial savings can be realized if biweekly pickup is feasible. However, some studies (Platt et al., 1991) have shown
that this leads to lower levels of recycling.
How much separation of recyclables can be implemented
by the waste generators? That is, will householders and
businesses separate plastics, fine paper, cardboard, boxboard, metals, and so on without significant contamination?
Can the truck pickup segregate the wastes in the same categories as is done by the generators? Separation of recyclables
generally requires side-loading trucks. If the trucks cannot
provide separation, then the materials recovery facility will
need to include equipment for separating cans, bottles, plastics, etc.
A key to a successful recycling program is to ensure that
apartment complexes and businesses also participate. This

47

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THE WASTE CRISIS

requires some innovative coordination, because apartments

generally have space limitations, and businesses are often
serviced by private-sector waste companies rather than by
municipal waste pickup.
A study of 17 communities that have established successful recycling programs showed that 60% of them are diverting 40% or more
of their waste from landfills. The study found that the following
factors were important in achieving such high diversion rates (Platt
etal., 1991):
mandatory participation in recycling
comprehensive composting programs
recovery of materials not only from residences but also from
apartments and commercial and institutional establishments
targeting a wide range of materials for recovery
providing economic incentives for materials recovery, such
as increased tipping fees for nonseparated refuse
weekly pick-up of all materials
provision of adequate containers for recyclable materials
implementing education and publicity programs
Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs)

Materials recovery facilities (MRFs, pronounced "murfs") are the

most critical component of a modern waste management system.
The efficiency and flexibility of the MRF will control the percentage of waste that a municipality can recycle. Recyclable wastes that
have been picked up at curbside are brought to the MRF, where
the various metal, glass, paper, and plastic components are separated, packaged (usually into bales), and stored until they can be
shipped. MRFs generally include a drop-off area so that individuals or companies can bring in presorted recyclable materials. Truck
access to the building and traffic control are important so that
materials can be dropped off and the final baled products can be
picked up.
If considerable sorting is done in the trucks that do the curbside
pickup, the materials recovery facility may need to provide only
minimal additional sorting capability, although some may still be
necessary to remove contamination and ensure that a sufficiently
"clean" product is supplied to the purchaser. If little sorting is done
in the curbside pickup, then more sophisticated sorting equipment
will be necessary.

RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING

The main operations and equipment at a MRF include the following (Tchobanoglous et al., 1993).
Conveyor Belts Various types and sizes of conveyer belts are
ubiquitous at MRFs and are the workhorses for managing and
transporting materials. They are also used as "moving tables" to
allow manual sorting.
Size Reduction The objective of size reduction is to produce a
final product that is reasonably uniform and considerably reduced in size from the original, so that it can be more easily
shipped and processed. Shredding, milling, and grinding are
terms used to describe size reduction. Commonly used size reduction equipment includes the hammermill, which shatters
brittle materials like glass using the impact of a number of hammers; the shear shredder, which uses two opposing counteracting blades to cut ductile materials; and the tub grinder, which
is essentially a mobile hammermill shredder that is used to shred
yard wastes and construction debris.
The most important operation at a MRF is the separation of the
various recyclables from the overall mass of material delivered to
the facility. Many different methods are used; the most commonplace are described below.
Size separation. Different types of screens are used to separate mixtures of materials of different size.
Vibrating Screens are generally horizontal or slightly inclined,
forming flat surfaces on which material is placed. The screens are
vibrated so that materials of a specific size fall through the openings in the screen. Most screen systems allow several screens to be
used, one above the other.
Trommel Screens are very versatile and consist of a large-diameter
screen in the shape of a cylinder that rotates on a horizontal or inclined axis.
Disc Screens consist of sets of parallel, vertical, interlocking,
rotating discs. Undersize materials fall between the discs, while
oversize materials are carried along the top.
Density separation. Density separation is used to separate materials on the basis not only of density but also of their aerodynamic
properties. The principle is similar to that of winnowing grain.
Air classifiers are used to separate lighter materials such as paper
and plastic from denser materials such as metals and glass. Mixed

49

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THE WASTE CRISIS

material is introduced into a fast-flowing air stream so that the

lighter fraction is carried away into a cyclone separator or onto a
different conveyor belt where it is collected, and the heavier fraction drops downward to its collection area.
Stoners, originally used to separate stones from wheat, are used
in MRFs to separate heavy grit from organic material in trommel
underflow (i.e., undersize) streams. A stoner consists of a flat deck
with small air holes that is inclined slightly to the horizontal. The
deck vibrates in a straight line in the upslope direction while an air
stream is blown up through the holes. When material is introduced
onto the platform, the light material floats on the air stream and
flows down slope. The heavier material settles on the platform and
is vibrated upslope to its collection area.
Magnetic and electric field separation. Magnetic separation is used
to extract ferrous metals, such as cans, from the waste stream. An
electromagnet is generally used in conjunction with conveyor belts.
Figure 5.1 illustrates how magnetic separation operates.
Eddy current separation is used to separate nonferrous metals,
primarily aluminum, from plastics and glass. In this method an alternating electromagnetic field is used to induce currents in the
aluminum. The induced currents create an electromagnetic field that
is opposed to the inducing field, thus repelling the pieces of aluminum away from the inducing field (in contrast to magnetic separation, where ferrous metal is attracted to a magnetic field).
Manual sorting. MRFs also rely on a considerable amount of manual
sorting, even when they employ state-of-the-art separation technology. The current trend is to integrate manual and mechanical sorting of wastes because manual sorting provides final materials of the
highest qualitythat is, with the least amount of contamination.
After Sorting

In almost all cases, the end products produced by the various product streams in a MRF are compressed in compactors to reduce volume and packaged in bales which can be handled by forklift trucks.
Weigh scales are an integral part of a MRF. They are used to weigh
trucks before and after bringing in loads and to weigh the various
streams produced by the sorting processes to ensure proper accounting of the various marketable materials and the waste that must go
to landfill.

RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING

5.1 Magnetic separation of ferrous and nonferrous materials.

The materials recovery facility includes a storage area for the
baled materials. A large storage space provides greater flexibility;
it also allows for long-term storage should prices for a commodity
be temporarily in the doldrums.
A flow chart illustrating the movement and separation of materials in a hypothetical materials recovery facility is shown in Figure 5.2, and a case history of a state-of-the-art recycling center is
presented in chapter 11.
Marketing

Marketing is a fundamental requirement of modern recycling: the

entire system would fail if the recovered materials could not be sold,
or if they did not command a reasonable price. This is a complex
business. Specialized markets must be found, and commodity prices
can vary dramatically over time. It is not easy for municipalities,
which generally have no experience in this kind of marketing, to
master all of the intricacies of the trade. In many cases, it may be
appropriate to contract the marketing of recovered materials to a firm
that specializes in this challenging business.
Composting

Composting is a specialized part of recycling in which organic

wastes are biologically decomposed under controlled conditions to

51

5.2 Simplified materials flow for separating recyclables in a

materials recycle facility.

RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING

convert them into a product that can be applied to the land beneficially and without adverse environmental impact. The composting
process should destroy pathogens, weed seeds, insect eggs, and
other unwanted organisms. Adding compost can lighten heavy soils,
improve the texture of light soils, and increase water retention capacity. Composting is a natural process that has been used in an
organized fashion to deal with garbage since at least the early 1900s
(Journal of Waste Recycling, 1991).
Composting is an important component of a modern integrated
waste system for one very simple reason: in North America we generate a considerable amount of yard waste and other organic wastes
that are readily compostable. Studies have shown that a significant
fraction of municipal solid waste consists of yard wastes, ranging from
5% to 20% by weight, with a typical value of 18%. Thus, composting
can make a significant contribution to waste diversion. Furthermore,
composting is a relatively low-technology and low-cost process that
can be readily established by most communities.
Generally, only materials of biological originsuch as leaves,
paper, wood, and non-meat food scrapsare suitable for composting.
Synthetic organic materials, particularly plastics and rubber, are seldom compostable.
The Composting Process

In the composting process, microorganisms break down complex

organic molecules (proteins, amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, and
cellulose) into simpler ones (mostly cellulose and lignin). The
microorganisms require an aqueous or moist environment and oxygen. The exothermic reaction is depicted below:
Complex molecules + O2 + microorganisms
-> compost + new cells + dead cells + heat + CO2 + H2O + NO3 + SO4
The activity of living organisms, which make up about 5% to 10%
of the organic material, releases the energy and nutrients stored in
the tissues of the plant and animal residues in the starting compost
material. There are several different kinds of organisms, and each
has a specific substrate on which it works. An entire food chain
develops during the compost process:
Microorganisms such as bacteria, actinomycetes (slime
molds), fungi, and algae break down the bulk of organic

53

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THE WASTE CRISIS

material. Their population, commonly referred to as the

"microbial biomass," is most crucial to the process.
Protozoa, nematodes, and some other small organisms such
as mold mites (Acari) and springtails (Collembola.) feed on
the microorganisms.
Beetles and other insects feed on the mold mites, springtails, and other small organisms.
Larger organisms such as earthworms, flatworms, centipedes,
millipedes, snails, slugs, and sowbugs feed on the decaying
plant materials. They speed up the compost process by mixing the materials and reducing the size of particles.
The carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio is the most important measure
of nutrient balance in the compost. Microorganisms use carbon as
a source of energy, and both carbon and nitrogen are used for building cell structures. The C/N ratio declines as the composting process proceeds. More carbon is required than nitrogen; a typical final
C/N value is approximately 22:1 (MOE, 1991).
The C/N value determines how the finished compost affects the
soils to which it is applied. If C/N is greater than 25:1, the microorganisms in the compost will compete with the crops for available nitrogen. At compost levels below 20:1, the energy source,
carbon, is less than needed for conversion of nitrogen into proteins. In this case, the compost microorganisms remove excess
nitrogen as ammonia, denying it to plants and thus inhibiting plant
growth. The C/N ratio in compost can be controlled by adding
either highly nitrogenous materials like grass clippings and green
vegetation, or highly carbonaceous materials like hay and dry
leaves.
Home Composting

Composting programs take two distinct forms. The first employs

home composters, usually plastic bins or barrels with a capacity
of about 200 liters (see Figure 5.3). These are supplied to homeowners, often on a subsidized basis, and should be accompanied
by instructions on what and how to compost. Additional support
can be provided by telephone hot lines and by volunteer programs
in which experienced composters provide assistance and advice
to beginners. Although home composting programs are feasible
only in suburban areas, they are very effective because waste is
diverted at source and no pickup or treatment by the municipal
system is required.

RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING

5.3 Home composters.

Central Composting Facilities

Even with a successful home composting program, a central composting facility can make a valuable contribution to waste reduction. The central facility can service apartment buildings, businesses, and neighborhoods where home composters are not feasible;
in addition, it can treat leaves in the fall and Christmas trees in
winter. Incentives should be developed to ensure that landscaping
firms, significant generators of yard wastes, drop off their wastes at
the central facility.
An important part of planning a central composting facility is
obtaining regulatory permits, including communicating with local
groups that may be affected by the facility. A relatively large parcel
of land is required, and this is often located at the municipal landfill: land is available, garbage/recycle trucks come there anyway,
infrastructure such as weigh scales and wood shredders is available,
and the final compost can be used for landfill cover if no other
markets are available.
The processing of organic materials prior to composting includes shredding to break bags, reduce size of materials such as
Christmas trees and large wood pieces, and ensure a relatively
uniform material; and sorting to remove contaminants such as
plastic bags.

55

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Composting facilities, though a relatively low technology, still

require careful planning and resources. Generally, three basic systems are used: the windrow, static pile, and in-vessel methods
(Tchobanoglous et al., 1993). These are described below. The windrow and static pile methods are the most popular license they
require minimal capital investment and the decomposition process
occurs aerobically (in the presence of oxygen). In aerobic composting (versus anaerobic composting, in the absence of oxygen) far
less odor is generated, and temperatures reach higher levels, generally in the 40 to 60C range, which not only kill most pathogens
but also destroy weed seeds.
Windrow composting. This is one of the oldest and simplest methods of composting. A typical windrow system consists of long rows
of organic material, about 1.8 to 2.1 meters high and 4 to 5 meters
wide at the base. Actual dimensions vary and depend largely on the
equipment available to place and manipulate the piles.
To ensure aerobic conditions and maintain temperatures, the
windrows are turned at regular intervals, usually once or twice a
week. A moisture content of 50% to 60% must be maintained. Although bulldozers and front-end loaders can be used, specialized
turning machines have been developed that are more efficient and
can add water at the same time (Fig. 5.4). Proper aeration is important because it prevents anaerobic conditions, which lead to odor.
A temperature of at least 55 C should be maintained for a minimum
of two weeks to ensure destruction of pathogens. The composting
period lasts about four or five weeks; the compost is usually cured
for an additional two to eight weeks to ensure that it is completely
stabilized.
Aerated static pile composting. This method can be used to compost
a wide variety of organic materials, including yard wastes and separated municipal waste. The materials are laid out in long piles similar to windrows. A layer of screened compost is often placed on top
of the pile to control odor and provide insulation. A network of
perforated piping is either placed at the bottom of the pile or embedded in the flooring below the pile. Air is introduced by blowers
into each pile through the pipe network so that aerobic decomposition occurs. Airflow rates are controlled to maintain the temperature at the desired level. In modern facilities, all or most of the
system is enclosed to allow better processing and odor control. Al-

RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING

5.4 A self-propelled windrow-turning machine (courtesy of

Midwest Bio-Systems, Tampico, Illinois).

though the method needs more complex equipment than windrow

composting, it does not require turning the material, it minimizes
odors, and it provides better control of the process. An aerated static
pile composter is illustrated in Figure 5.5.
In-vessel composting. In this method, the materials to be composted
are enclosed in a container or vessel. Vessels of various shapes are
used, but they are generally of two basic types: plug flow or dynamic. In the former, the materials move through the vessel without agitation; in the latter, the materials are agitated or mixed during the composting. Air and water are added to the vessels in a
well-controlled manner. Typical in-vessel composting systems are
shown schematically in Figure 5.6, and an actual system is shown
in Figure 5.7. Detention (processing) times in in-vessel composters
are about 1 to 2 weeks, followed by a 4- to 12-week curing period.
In-vessel composters are gaining popularity because they offer good
process and odor control, shorter composting time, and lower labor
costs, and they can deal with food wastes. In particular, they can
be set up in cities to service facilities such as hospitals or large office complexes.

57

5.5 Schematic diagram of an aerated static compost pile.

5.6 Schematic views of typical in-vessel composting systems: (a)

horizontal plug flow composter; (b) mixed vertical flow composter.

RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING

5.7 A flow-through in-vessel composting system with internal

mixing and computer control of air volume and temperature,
situated at a municipal hospital (courtesy of Wright Environmental
Management Inc.).

Treating and Marketing Compost

Regardless of the composting method, the final product is usually

passed through a screen to remove oversize pieces and foreign materials as well as to ensure that it has a good marketable appearance.
Because of the high moisture levels that must be maintained
during composting, considerable leachate may be produced. Depending on the types of materials being composted and the permitting requirements, a leachate collection system, a water treatment
facility, and an environmental monitoring program may be necessary. Finally, the finished compost must be sold to a market, so a
storage, packaging and loading area forms a key part of the facility.

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. Arrange for a tour of your local materials recycling facility. Make a material flow chart of the facility. Ask them
what their main problems are and brainstorm ways of overcoming them.
2. Develop a flow chart for processing (separating) a waste
stream that consists of paper (43%), cardboard (12%), plas-

59

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THE WASTE CRISIS

3.

4.

5.
6.

tics (13%), glass (14%), aluminum (6%), and ferrous metal

(9%). Assuming 100 tonnes/day, 5 days/week input, sketch
a layout of the plant.
How much land is needed to establish a composting center if a community collects 100 tonnes/day, 5 days/week,
of compostable material. Assume that windrow composting
with mechanical turning will be used. Each windrow is 5
meters wide and 150 meters long, with an angle of repose
of 1 to 1. The material has a density of 330 kg/m3 before
water is added. The active composting period lasts 30 days
and the curing period is four months. Don't forget a staging area. Repeat the calculation for an active period of 21
days and a curing period of three months.
Prior to composting, leaves, with a C/N ratio of 55:1, are to
be blended with activated sludge from a sewage treatment
plant, with a C/N ratio of 6.6:1, to yield a combined C/N
ratio of 25:1. In what proportions should they be combined
if the moisture contents of sludge and leaves are 75% and
50%, respectively, and the nitrogen content of sludge and
leaves are 5.6% and 0.8%, respectively?
What is the C/N ratio of C60H100O40N2?
Investigate what is being done in your community to recycle the following two special waste types: (a) construction and demolition waste; and (b) food scraps from restaurants and cafeterias (as opposed to yard waste). Is there
room for improvement? How?

Suggested Reading
Journal of Waste Recycling. 1991. The Biocycle Guide to the Art and
Science of Composting. Emmaus, Pa.: JG Press.
Platt, B., C. Doherty, A. C. Broughton, and D. Morris. 1991. Beyond
40%: Record-Setting Recycling and Composting Programs. Washington, B.C.: Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Island Press.
Tchobanoglous, G., H. Thiesen, and S. Vigil. 1993. Integrated Solid
Waste Management: Engineering Principles and Management Issues. New York: McGraw-Hill.

6
WASTES
Know Your Enemy

When Sherlock Holmes solves a mystery, he studies the strengths,

weaknesses, foibles, egos, sensitivities, and other traits of the villains.
It is the same with wastes: a detailed understanding of their characteristics is fundamental to being able to manage them properly. To
determine the size of a disposal facility, we must know the volumes
and rate of generation of waste. A MRF cannot be designed unless
it is known what recyclables are contained in the waste stream. A
knowledge of the physical and chemical nature of waste allows engineers to select landfill construction materials that will be compatible with the waste. We must understand the toxic and hazardous
components in order to design the facility to endure for a period of
time commensurate with the hazardous lifetime of the waste.
Because of the incredibly large number of existing waste compounds, it is useful to categorize them. Unfortunately, there are no
well-established categorization systems in place. We will describe
wastes using two main classification systems, and then we will
describe their most important characteristics. The first system is a
functional one; that is, the wastes are classified by generator. The
second is a classification by chemical type.

Classifying Wastes by Generator

This somewhat arbitrary system combines different kinds of waste

primarily by the group or industry that generates the waste. These
waste types include:
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THE WASTE CRISIS

municipal wastes
industrial wastes
hazardous wastes
radioactive wastes

This is a convenient classification because each of these waste

classes is generally managed and disposed of as a group. In addition, substantial volumes of waste are generated by the mining and
agricultural sectors; these are not discussed in this book.
Municipal Solid Waste

Municipal solid wastes, as the name implies, are produced by the

everyday activities in a community. They arise from the following
sources:
residentialhouses and apartments
commercialstores, restaurants, office buildings, service
stations, etc.
institutionalschools, courthouses, hospitals, etc.
construction and demolitionconstruction sites, road repair, building demolition, etc.
municipal servicesstreet-cleaning, garden and park landscaping, wastewater treatment, etc.
We are a wasteful society. Every person in North America generates approximately 2 kilograms of garbage each day. Given that
there are approximately 300 million people in the United States and
Canada, this yields over 200 million tonnes per yeara gigantic
amount of garbage.
Just what does this waste consist of? Until recently, not very
much was known about the garbage we produce. It is hardly surprising that the malodorous field of garbology has not attained the
popularity of rocket science, oil exploration, or brain surgery. The
situation improved dramatically in the early 1970s when the Garbage Project was launched at the University of Arizona (Rathje &
Psihoyos, 1991; Rathje & Murphy, 1992). Motivated by the study
of archeology, combined with modern demographics and lifestyle,
the project undertook an ambitious study of today's landfills. In excavating into and performing detailed cataloging of the contents of
landfills, the Garbage Project has brought a certain degree of glamor
and excitement to garbology. Their studies, which have been featured in National Geographic and on television specials, have unearthed fascinating information about our lifestyles and our modern throw-away society.

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

The Garbage Project exhumed 11 U.S. landfills and showed that

municipal garbage consists of the following components, by volume
(see Fig. 6.1):
50% Paper, including packaging, newspapers, telephone
books, glossy magazines, and mail-order catalogues.
Paper is almost 100% cellulose, a carbohydrate
which is highly combustible.
19% Miscellaneous, including construction and demolition debris, tires, textiles, rubber, and disposable
diapers.
13% Organic materials such as wood, yard waste, and
food scraps.
10% Plastic, including milk jugs, soda bottles, food
packaging, garbage bags, and polystyrene foam.
Plastic materials are classified into the following
seven categories (see Fig. 6.2):

6.1 Composition or municipal solid waste.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

6.2 Symbols used for different types of plastic.

6%
1%
1%

Polyethylene terephthalate (PETE/l)

High-density polyethylene (HDPE/2)
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC/3)
Low-density polyethylene (LDPE/4)
Polypropylene (PP/5)
Polystyrene (PS/6)
Other multilayered plastics (7)
Metal, including iron as well as aluminum and steel
food and beverage cans.
Glass, consisting of beverage bottles, food containers,
and cosmetic jars.
Hazardous materials such as pesticides and oven
cleaners.

We can see that a large fraction of a landfill's contents is potentially recyclable. For example, approximately one-half of a typical landfill is comprised of paper. The single most abundant item
in landfills is newspapers, accounting for about 18% of the space.
Telephone directories are the fastest-growing paper component of
municipal waste. An interesting observation of the Garbage Project
was that disposable diapers, which are used by 85% of American
babies and which are perceived by many to be a serious concern,
actually account for only about 0.8% of landfill volume.
An obvious characteristic of municipal waste is its heterogeneity. Municipal landfills are anything but uniform, with an enormous
range of items. Metals, for example, consist of items as disparate as
refrigerators, car axles, paint cans, metal stakes, and pop cans.

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Throw-Away Society
Each year U.S. consumers throw away:
* enough tires to encircle the Earth almost three times
* about 18 billion disposable diapers; If laid end to end these eoJd stretch
to the Moon and back seven times

* 10 milon computers
1,6 billon ball-point pens

About 16% of municipal landfills are also used for co-disposal

of sludge from sewage treatment plants. This is not surprising, since
sewage treatment plants and landfills are generally owned by the
same jurisdiction, permitting good cooperation between them. Landfills are generally a choice of last resort for sludge disposal, used
only if no worthwhile use for the sludge can be found, such as fertilizer for farmers' fields or fuel for incinerators.
As described later in this chapter, municipal wastes are not just
composed of benign items such as grass clippings and old newspapers. They also contain used motor oil, batteries, solvents such as
oven cleaners and paint thinners, pesticides, tires, and much more.
Industrial Waste

We produce garbage not just in the home; the industries that supply our consumer goods also generate large amounts of solid waste.
These wastes are byproducts of the manufacturing or chemical processes used by different industries, and the amount produced is
approximately four times greater, by weight, than the amount of
municipal solid waste. Even larger quantities of solid waste are
produced by the mining, oil and gas, and agriculture sectors (which
are not discussed in this text).
Industrial wastes are generally quite specific, depending on the
manufacturing processes involved. For example, an integral part of
the steel-making industry is the conversion of coal to coke in hightemperature coking ovens. This process emits a large amount of gas
and dust. The dust is captured in baghouses or electrostatic precipitators (see chapter 9) and is generally disposed in dedicated landfills at or near the steel mill.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

To give some idea of their esoteric nature, here are a few examples
of industrial waste streams:
Brine purification muds from the mercury cell process in
chlorine production
Distillation or fractionation column hottoms from the production of chlorobenzenes
Emission control dust and sludge from the production of
electrical power from burning coal
Residue from the use of activated carbon from decolorization in the production of veterinary pharmaceuticals from
arsenic or organo-arsenic compounds.
If any waste stream is hazardous, as defined by the presiding
regulatory agency, then that waste must be disposed of into a licensed hazardous waste landfill. Nonhazardous wastes are either
incinerated or placed into landfills, which are generally dedicated
for that purpose and located at or near the factory producing the
waste. These landfills are, for practical purposes, similar to municipal landfills (landfill design is described in chapter 7).
Hazardous Waste

Although hazardous waste is produced by a variety of different generators, it is grouped into one category because regulatory agencies
require that it be separated from municipal and industrial waste and
placed into separate, more rigorously designed landfills. For example,
municipalities hold household hazardous waste days to separate this
component from other municipal waste. Regulations require industries to analyze their waste, and the hazardous component must be
removed by licensed carriers to a licensed hazardous landfill.
Although hazardous waste is defined in different ways by different jurisdictions, it is generally considered to be waste that is
toxic or hazardous to humans or to the environment. The U.S.
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) provides a good
example of a definition created by committee. RCRA defines hazardous waste as
a solid waste or a combination of solid wastes that, because
of its quantity, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics, may cause, or significantly contribute to, an increase
in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; or pose a substantial present or
potential hazard to human health or the environment when

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or

otherwise managed.
Solid wastes may be deemed hazardous under RCRA if they exhibit
one or more of the following four characteristics:

Ignitability
Corrosivity
Reactivity
Toxicity

About 15% of industrial waste (Oweis & Khera, 1998) and about
1% of municipal refuse is hazardous. It is estimated that about 40
million tonnes of hazardous waste are generated in the United States
each year (Henry & Runnals, 1989). In Canada, it has been estimated
that approximately 2.3 million tonnes are produced annually (Apogee Research, 1995).
Typical household hazardous wastes include everyday products
such as nail-polish remover, batteries, oven cleaner, used motor oil,
degreasers, fuel additives, paints, stains, varnishes, turpentines,
pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. For example, a seemingly
innocent bottle of fingernail polish contains the toxins xylene, toluene, and dibutyl phthalate.
The Garbage Project turned up medical products, including used
needles, in their excavations. They found that almost 1% by weight
of all garbage coming from households can be regarded as hazardous, based on the Environmental Protection Agency's definition
(Rathje & Murphy, 1992). Studies in Seattle and Montreal found that
household hazardous wastes comprised 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively, of their municipal solid waste (Apogee Research, 1995).
Although these are not large percentages, they actually represent a
significant quantity of hazardous material. For example, in 1995
Americans produced 180 million tonnes of municipal trash; 1% of
this, or 1.8 million tonnes, was hazardous waste, most of which
wound up in landfills. Although household hazardous waste programs are becoming more popular, it is estimated that they intercept less than 4% of hazardous waste (Apogee Research, 1995).
Garbage Project studies have shown that hazardous wastes are
not a new phenomenon but have been produced at about the current rate for more than 50 years (Rathje & Murphy, 1992). Thus, both
old and new landfills contain significant amounts of hazardou
materials, which will eventually leak into the groundwater.
After being segregated, hazardous wastes must be disposed into
specially licensed hazardous waste facilities or into special hazard-

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THE WASTE CRISIS

ous waste cells located at regular landfills. Generally, special landfills designed for hazardous wastes incorporate particularly good
geologic features, such as very thick and impermeable clay layers,
and/or extra engineered barriers, such as synthetic plastic liners.
Hazardous wastes can be classified in a number of ways. For
example, the University of California at Davis Waste Classification
System, which is used widely, recognizes 116 individual waste
types. They are grouped into the following 14 categories based on
similar physical and chemical properties:
Organic sludges and still bottoms (no oil)
Solvents and organic solutions (halogenated and nonhalogenated mixed)
Oils and greases (waste lube oil, etc.)
Oil/water mixtures
Organic and oily residues (gasoline and organic food waste
oil)
Heavy metal solutions and residuals
Miscellaneous chemicals and products (organic and inorganic chemicals, salts, infectious)
Paint and organic residuals
Aqueous solutions with organics (90% water)
Anion complexes (cyanide, sulfide, other complexes)
Sludges and inorganic residuals (ash, spent catalyst)
Pesticide and herbicide wastes
PCB wastes
Clean-up residuals (largely contaminated soil or wastes
absorbed onto a solid matrix)
Since many of these waste forms are liquid, they may wind up being
discharged into sewage treatment plants, or they may be treated
chemically rather than being sent to landfill. Even if specialized
treatment processes are used, there are usually some solid or sludge
byproducts left which are sent for disposal in landfills.
Radioactive Waste

Radioactive wastes are a specific type of industrial waste. The main

generators are electricity-producing nuclear reactors. Some radioactive wastes are also produced by research, medical procedures,
and specialized industrial processes.
Radioactive wastes contain atoms with unstable nuclei which
undergo radioactive decay whereby they give up energy and transform to a more stable form. The energy emitted can be in the form

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

of particles and electromagnetic radiationusually either gamma

rays (a form of energy), beta particles (electrons), or alpha particles
(the nuclei of helium atoms, consisting of 2 neutrons and 2 protons).
These are called "ionizing radiation" because they produce electrically charged particles, known as ions, as they pass through matter.
The main adverse effect of radiation on humans is cancer, which may
not become evident until many years after exposure to radiation.
Radioactive compounds differ in one fundamental way from
nonradioactive compounds: they can have influence at a distance.
This is due primarily to gamma radiation, which can penetrate
matter. Thus, radioactive compounds can cause adverse health effects at a distance as well as by direct contact and ingestion. This
characteristic also has a positive side, however, since it allows radioactive materials to be detected using Geiger counters and other
monitoring devices, thus avoiding sampling and chemical analyses, a more costly and time-consuming operation.
High-level radioactive wastes are generated in nuclear power
plants by splitting, or fission, of uranium atoms in a controlled
nuclear reaction. The fission process releases an enormous amount
of energy in the form of heat, which is used to boil water into steam
that drives a turbine generator to create electricity. The used uranium fuel that comes out of a reactor is highly radioactive and must
be managed with great care. A few hundred different radioactive
radionuclides are formed and emit such intense radiation that
shielding is required to handle the fuel bundles. The radiation decaysdecreases over timeso that after approximately 300 years
the fuel bundles have about the same radioactivity as the original
uranium ore from which they were made. At this time, they can be
handled without shielding.
Major programs are under way in several countries to develop
safe disposal techniques for high-level nuclear wastes. In virtually
all cases, the proposed disposal method is by burial deep in stable,
carefully selected geologic formations. In the United States a site is
being explored in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, which has extensive
deposits of tuff, a volcanic rock (Reynolds, 1996). This site is in an
arid region, and the groundwater is very deepabout 600 meters
below the surface. If the site proves acceptable, a repository will be
constructed at a depth of 300 meters, approximately midway between the surface and the groundwater table.
In Canada (Dormuth & Nuttall, 1987) and Sweden, the intention
is to dispose of spent fuel by emplacement into the dense, hard,
crystalline rocks of the Precambrian Shield at a depth of about 500

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THE WASTE CRISIS

meters. These rock formations are among the oldest (more than 600
million years old) and most stable in the world. In addition, a number of engineered barriers will be used. The spent fuel, encased in
titanium or copper containers, is to be lowered into cylindrical holes
in the floor of underground tunnels. The remainder of the emplacement holes will be filled with compacted bentonite clay. The tunnels and shafts will be sealed with a mixture of bentonite clay and
sand. The bentonite clay buffers, together with the geological formation, form an integrated multi-barrier system to contain the
wastes.
Low-level radioactive wastes consist largely of ordinary trash and
other items that have come into contact with radioactive materials
and have become slightly radioactive themselves. They include
plastic gloves and other protective clothing, machine parts and tools,
test tubes, syringes, filters, and general residues and scraps that have
been contaminated. Low-level radioactive waste is created primarily by the operation of nuclear power plants, although some is also
generated by the medical profession and by certain industrial applications such as sterilization of medical and other equipment.
Hundreds of different radionuclides can occur in low-level waste.
Although the level of radioactivity of these wastes is considerably
lower than that of high-level wastes, they must still be managed with
care to prevent harm to the environment. Low-level radioactive
waste decays and becomes less hazardous as time passes. Because
of their low radiation intensity, little or no shielding is needed to
handle low-level radioactive wastes.
A number of different methods are currently being used for disposal of low-level nuclear wastes. In Sweden, the wastes are being
placed in mined caverns below the sea floor (see chapter 11). In
France, they are being entombed in heavily engineered surface
vaults which feature thick concrete barriers. In the United States,
trenches located in thick clay formations are being used at a site near
Barn well, South Carolina.

Classifying Waste by Chemical Composition

Another way of classifying wastes is by their chemical composition.

This is a more rigorous categorization than that by disposal type
because it provides a quantifiable description as well as information about the properties of the wastes. The main categories are:

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Organic compounds
Inorganic compounds
Microbiological materials
Organic Compounds

Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds, particularly

those in which carbon atoms combine with hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen. Such compounds are formed naturally by living organisms; they can also be made synthetically.
Important properties of organic compounds are specific gravity,
the degree to which an organic compound sinks or floats in water;
solubility, or how readily it can be dissolved in water; volatility,
the degree to which a chemical evaporates in air; adsorption, the
tendency to stick to the surface of other matter, such as soils; and
degradation, the tendency to decompose into simpler molecules. A
primary characteristic of organic compounds is that they are capable
of being destroyed by combustion. The following are the main families of organic compounds that are of interest in waste management.
Chlorinated (halogenated) solvents. These are generally soluble, volatile, poorly adsorbed, and slowly degraded. Typical chlorinated solvents include trichloroethylene, methylene chloride, and carbon
tetrachloride. They are generally used as cleaning solvents (paint
removers, metal degreasers), blowing agents in foams, and in the
manufacture of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), along with many other
industrial uses. Because of the attached chlorine or other halogen
atom, these compounds are chemically reactive and damaging to
human health and the environment. For example, carbon tetrachloride is highly toxic and can damage the gastrointestinal tract and
the central nervous system; methylene chloride is a carcinogen and
a narcotic.
Non-chlorinated solvents. These are generally soluble, volatile,
poorly adsorbed, and rapidly degraded. Typical non-chlorinated
solvents include xylene, acetone, ethyl benzene, and methyl isobutyl ketone. They are used as paint and varnish solvents, for cleaning machinery, in the production of rubber, in fuels and gasoline,
and for other industrial uses. Generally, they are not as toxic as the
chlorinated solvents, but they may irritate the eyes and skin and
cause damage to the kidneys and liver.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Petroleum hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are molecules consisting

primarily of hydrogen and carbon. Those of lower molecular weight
are generally soluble, volatile, rapidly degraded, and poorly adsorbed.
As the molecular weight of the compounds increases, they become
less volatile and less soluble. Typical petroleum hydrocarbons include natural gas (methane), aviation gasoline, fuel oil, kerosene,
lubricating oils, and pitch and tar.
PCBs (poly-chlorinated biphenyls). A family of synthetic chlorinated
hydrocarbons in use since the early 1930s, these are generally insoluble, non-volatile, poorly degraded, and highly adsorbed. Because of their stability, they were widely used as electrical insulating
fluids in transformers and capacitors, as well as in other specialty
applications such as pressure-sensitive copying paper. Important
proprietary names include Arochlor, Askarel, and Pyranol. PCBs
are no longer manufactured, and their use is being phased out. PCBs
accumulate in fatty tissues and have been shown to cause cancer
in experimental animals, although some controversy exists over
their effects on human health.
PAHs (polynudear aromatic hydrocarbons). More than 100 compounds exist in this family, including benzo-a-pyrene, acenaphthene,
fluoanthene, and naphthalene. Their properties depend on the molecular weight of the compound. They are a common air pollutant
when dispersed by the combustion of hydrocarbons such as coal,
wood, and oil. Some PAHs have been shown to be carcinogenic in
animal tests; they may build up in fatty tissues.
Pesticides. These are generally insoluble, non-volatile, poorly degraded, and highly adsorbed. "Pesticide" is a general term for chemicals that are targeted at insects (insecticides), plants (herbicides),
molds and mildews (fungicides), bacteria (bactericides), mites and
ticks (acaracides), or rats and mice (rodenticides). Pesticides are very
diverse, and more than 700 active ingredients (the actual chemical
that does the killing) are registered in the United States. The most
widely used fall into four groups:
1. Organochlorines: organic compounds containing chlorine,
such as DDT, chlordane, Kepone, lindane, aldrin/dieldrin, methoxychlor, Mirex, and heptachlor. These have an environmental
persistence of 2 to 15 years.

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was one of the most

widely used insecticides in the world because it is toxic to insects,
but much less toxic to other animals; it is very persistent, continuing
to exert its properties for a long time; and it is relatively inexpensive.
Its degradation products are DDD (dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethane)
which has some toxicity to insects with lower toxicity to fish than
DDT, and DDE (dichloro-diphenyl-ethane), with low toxicity to insects. Commercial DDT is a mixture of all three, with DDT predominating. DDT was very beneficial in the years after its discovery: it
helped prevent epidemics of typhus in post-World War II Europe,
and it formed the foundation for successful programs to control malaria and other insect-borne diseases in Africa and the Far East. It has
now been superseded by less persistent insecticides in the developed
world, but is still widely used in developing countries (Clark, 1989a).
The group of interrelated insecticides including aldrin, dieldrin,
endrin, and heptachlor is extremely persistent, and the degradation
products are also toxic. For example, heptachlor degrades to heptachlor epoxide, which is even more toxic than its parent; aldrin
degrades to dieldrin. Because these chemicals are toxic to mammals
as well as very persistent, they were largely withdrawn in the 1970s.
In spite of this, they are widespread in the environment and continue to leach out of agricultural land into watercourses and oceans
(Clark, 1989a).
2. Organophosphates: organic compounds containing phosphates, such as parathion, malathion, diazinon, TEPP, and mevingphos, with a persistence of a few weeks to a few years,
3. Carbamates: organic compounds containing nitrogen and oxygen, such as aldicarb, propoxur, Maneb, and Zineb, with a persistence of days and weeks,
4. Botanicals: natural insecticides generated by plants, such as
rotenone and pyrethrum, with a persistence of days to weeks.

Pestlddesjekyll-and-Hyrfe Substances
Pesticides have a Dr. jekyl and Mr. Hyde personality,, On the one hand,they
greatly increase crop yieids, eradicate pesky bugs, and enhance our quality
of We, On the other hand, they are insidious and pervasive chemicals that
have caused irreparable environmeotai damage {Carson, 1962), Pesticides
are ubiquitoustheir residues have been found in virtual!y all foods, plants,
and animate,

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Pesticidesjekyl-and-Hyde Substances (continued)

Since 1939, when it was discovered that DDT is a potent insecticide, the
manufacture: of synthetic organic pesticides has flourished, and dewioping
new ones has become an active indystry. Worldwide, aboyt 2.3 million
tonnes af pesticides are used annually, in the United States, about 700 bio
l0gically active compoundsare used to make some 50,000 pesticide
esc products.
Of these, herbicides account for 85%, insecticides 10%, and fungicides
about 5%.
About 20% of all pesticides in North America are applied to lawns, gardens, paries, and golf courses. Since the mid-1970s, the use of slowly degradable chlorinated hydrocarbons has been replaced by more rapidly degradable oestictdes,
pesticides, especially oroanopnosphates
organopnosphates and carbamates.

The biological effects of halogenated hydrocarbonspesticides,

solvents, PCBs, and so onare very complex, and many aspects are
still not well understood. First, they embrace an enormous variety
of related compounds. Some families, like dioxins, PAHs, or PCBs,
have many dozens of members which differ only slightly from one
another chemically yet can have significantly different biological
effects. Second, the analytical means of detecting them and separating the different members of the families have become available only
in recent decades; for example, it was not until 1966 that it was possible to identify PCBs analyticallymore than 30 years after they
came into use. And it was not until several years later that PCBs could
be separated from DDT. As late as 1980, toxaphenes, a widespread
contaminant, could not be reliably detected (Clark, 1989a). Scientists
have only recently had the tools to focus on these chemicals, and the
data bank of knowledge is still small. Even today, despite vast improvements in electronics and laboratory analytical techniques, many
organochlorines are probably being overlooked. To complicate things
even more, the effects of these chemicals on different species can also
differ significantly. Thus, it is understandable that considerable controversy exists about the effects of chemicals such as PCBs or dioxins on human health and the environment.
Inorganic Compounds

Inorganic compounds are defined by exception; that is, they are

those chemical compounds that are not organic. Inorganic elements
can be classified into three types:

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Major inorganic elements with their compounds, such as

the silicates, sulphates, cyanides, or iron.
Trace metals, such as aluminum, cadmium, copper, lead,
mercury, nickel, selenium, zinc, and their compounds
Arsenic and its compounds
The major inorganic elements and their compounds comprise the
hulk of our Earth. These constituents include calcium, silicates,
sulphate, and iron. These major elements and their compounds
control the acidity and electrochemical potential of soil and water
and thus control the action of the trace metals in the environment.
The trace metals are those elements that are present in trace, or
very small, concentrations in geologic materials. The behavior of
these elements is controlled by the chemistry of the major inorganic
elements. A subset of this class comprises heavy metals, such as
cadmium, lead, and mercury, which have densities that are at least
five times greater than water.
In low concentrations trace metals can be essential to good
health, but in higher doses they can be toxic. Molybdenum, for
example, is required by the human body for certain enzymes to
function properly, but too much will cause gout. A deficiency of
iron can cause a blood disorder, anemia. On the other hand, there
are some metalssuch as leadthat have no known beneficial
functions in the body, and even small exposures can be harmful,
eventually causing damage to the nervous and reproductive systems and the brain.
An important property of metals is that, unlike organic compounds, they never degrade or decompose. Although they can be
buried in landfills, they will eventually be remobilized and may then
become a threat to the environment.
Microbiological Waste

This class of waste, also known as biomedical waste, contains toxic

materials associated with living cells. The main categories we are
concerned with are bacteria and viruses. Bacteria are single-celled
microorganisms lacking chlorophyll; some of them perform useful
functions in the human body. Diseases such as diptheria, tetanus,
and botulism are caused by toxin-producing bacteria. Viruses are a
group of infectious agents that are much smaller than bacteria and
need to grow in an animal, plant, or bacterial cell. Some viral infectious diseases include smallpox, measles, chicken pox, the common cold, rabies, and viral pneumonia.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Microbiological waste can include human anatomical waste, consisting of human tissues, organs, and body parts; animal waste, including tissues, organs, body parts, carcasses, bedding, fluid blood,
blood products, and items contaminated with blood; non-anatomical
waste, including cultures, stocks, specimens submitted for microbiological analysis, human blood, or items contaminated with human
blood; and contaminated sharps, including needles, blades, and glass
or other materials capable of causing punctures or cuts. Microbiological wastes can come from hospitals, health-care centers, veterinary
clinics, funeral homes, medical laboratories, medical research centers,
and blood banks, as well as from private homes. Although these wastes
should be incinerated or disposed of at a hazardous waste disposal
facility, they sometimes wind up in municipal landfills.

Waste Characteristics

Some characteristics are more important than others in determining how wastes should be managed and disposed. The most important characteristics are discussed below.
Waste VolumesA Key to Management

One key parameter is the size or volume of waste that must be managed. Industrial and municipal wastes are the most abundant. Microbiological and radioactive wastes are much smaller in volume.
The large volumes of municipal waste severely limit the options
that are available for its safe disposal. For example, given the colossal accumulation of wastes at the Fresh Kills landfill in New York
City, there are few alternatives to heaping it into a large pile. Virtually any other disposal or treatment method, except incineration,
would be prohibitively expensive.
When waste volumes are kept small, however, the wastes become "manageable." Then some of the following advantages may
be realized:
Treatment of the wastes via encapsulation or fixation in leachresistant materials like cement may become economically feasible, thus rendering them more suitable for permanent disposal.

Because a smaller land area will be required for the disposal

facility, more potential sites should be available for selection,
which should result in a disposal site with better geological,
groundwater, and other technical characteristics.

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Different disposal optionssuch as burial deep underground or

shipment to distant, technically superior sitesmay become
practical.
Smaller waste volumes means fewer disposal sites, thus allowing regional centers for disposal rather than a site at every
municipality.
Most important, decreasing the volumes of waste also decreases
the amount of harmful chemicals and materials that are placed
into disposal facilities and eventually re-enter the environment.
In short, for wastes, small is beautiful. A cornerstone of any waste
management program should be to minimize the quantity of waste.
For this reason, the current programs for recycling, reducing, and
reusing are critically important. In addition, all other avenues to
reduced waste volume should be vigorously explored.
Thermal Value

An important statistic is that, before recycling, approximately 80%

of municipal waste consists of organic materials. Even after an aggressive recycling program that includes composting, waste will consist predominantly of organic materials, although the fraction might
be lowerperhaps 70%. This is true because both inorganics (metals, glass) and organics (paper, plastics, yard wastes) are removed by
the recycling process in approximately the same proportions.
Even with a recycling rate as high as 50%, the residual waste will
still contain a significant fraction of organic materials. Thus, residual
waste has a high thermal value and can be used as fuel for incinerators. In other words, there is no technical reason why the municipal waste stream cannot support both a strong recycling program and incineration.
To assess the practicality of waste incineration, it is necessary
to know the thermal content of waste. Some thermal valuesthe
energy that can be obtained by burning a unit of weightare listed
below for different waste materials (Neal and Schubel, 1987):
Newspaper
Books, magazines
Cardboard
Wood
Coal
Gasoline

13,880 kj/kg (5,980 BTU/pound)

13,490 kj/kg (5,810 BTU/pound)
13,000 kj/kg (5,600 BTU/pound)
19,969 kj/kg (8,600 BTU/pound)
14,620 to 33,650 kj/kg (6,300 to
14,500 BTU/pound)
48,750 kj/kg (21,000 BTU/pound)

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The Hazard of Wastes

Probably the most important factor in determining how a waste

should be managed is its "hazard" or toxicity. For example, malathion and parathion are two closely related organophosphate pesticides which produce similar symptoms of poisoning in humans
and other mammals. Should waste streams containing these substances be treated equally? The answer, in fact, is no. Parathion is
considerably more potent than malathion, and so it should be managed and disposed of more carefully.
Table 6.1 provides a brief overview of the effects of different toxic
compounds on the human body.
It would be convenient to have a simple indexsay, from one
to tento describe the hazard or toxicity of specific waste compounds. Unfortunately, life is not that simple. Developing toxicity
levels for substances is difficult, costly, and controversial. There are
many chemicals, and they have different effects on the various organs of the body. Thus, comparing the toxic effects of different waste
compounds is like comparing apples and oranges.
Another complication is that some chemicals have an immediate toxic effectthat is, the effects are felt shortly after exposure
whereas other chemicals have a delayed toxic effect, not apparent
until much later. For example, cancer may not appear until many
years after a person's exposure to carcinogenic chemicals.
The timing of exposure is also important. An acute exposure or
dose, delivered over a short period of time, may have different consequences than the same dose delivered over a long period of time,
Table 6.1. Toxic compounds and their target organs (Griffin,
1988).
Liver-attacking (hepatotoxic) compounds
carbon tetrachloride, tetrachloroethane
Kidney-attacking (nephrotoxic) compounds
halogenated hydrocarbons
Blood-attacking (hematopoietic) compounds
nitrobenzene, aniline, phenols, benzene
Nervous system-attacking (neurotoxic) compounds
methanol, metals (manganese, mercury), organometallics (methyl mercury)
Consciousness-attacking (anesthetic/narcotic) compounds
olefins, acetylene hydrocarbons, paraffin hydrocarbons, aliphatic ketones,
esters, nitrous oxide
Cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds
asbestos, arsenic, radioactive elements, nickel fumes, cigarette smoke,
saccharin, coal tar

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

called a chronic exposure. For example, one worker might receive

an acute exposure by breathing fumes from an accidental spill of a
toxic chemical; a second worker, who works near the vats where
this chemical is produced, might inhale the chemical in much lower
concentrations under ordinary circumstances, but over several years.
Although the total quantity of chemical inhaled by both workers
might be the same, the effects of the acute and chronic exposure
could be quite different, depending on the chemical.
Research is insufficient to understand the exact effects of many
compounds. Typically, toxicological research has been conducted
using animals and at doses much higher than would occur in any
waste management scenario. Even so, testing a single compound for
toxicity can take two to five years and cost as much as $1 million.
To complicate matters, responses to toxics differ among animal
species; for example, aspirin causes birth defects in rabbits but is
considered safe for human use.
The method of exposure can have a dramatic effect on the potency of toxic compounds. For example, nickel can cause cancer if
inhaled as a fume but not if ingested.
Epidemiological studies (the use of statistical methods to study
diseases in large groups of people) are used to investigate the patterns of certain diseases, particularly those with delayed effects such
as cancer. Typically, people exposed to a particular toxic chemical
from an industrial accident, or people working under a high occupational exposure level, are compared with similar groups who are
not exposed to see if there are statistically significant differences
in their health. Usually these groups must be tracked for many years
to gain relevant information, and even then it is difficult to say with
certainty whether an observed effect was caused by exposure to a
particular toxic compound or by some other stimulus.
In spite of these problems, many laboratory experiments and
epidemiological studies have been performed to determine the degree and type of hazard associated with potentially toxic substances.
Government regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and Environment Canada in Canada, as
well as international organizations such as the U.N. World Health
Organization, evaluate the results of these investigations and develop regulations and guidelines to limit human exposure to specific toxic substances. These regulations and guidelines can form a
means for classifying substances according to their toxicity.
An example of such a classification system is the one developed
by the EPA for acute toxicity (U.S. Forest Service, 1984). The sys-

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THE WASTE CRISIS

tern is based on the lethal dose (LD50) it takes to kill 50% of the organisms in a laboratory test. LD50 coefficients have been developed
for a wide variety of substances. The EPA guidelines for acute toxicity are shown in Table 6.2.
Four categories of toxicity are defined, ranging from I (Danger
Poison) to IV (caution). Each of these is defined for each of the three
main means by which a human can be exposed to a toxic compound:
by eating (ingestion or oral intake), skin (dermal) contact, and breathing (inhalation). Under inhalation, both particulates (dust) and gas
are included. For many substances, toxicity can differ significantly
depending on the route of entry into the body. Some toxics, for
example, are particularly well absorbed from the digestive tract but
not from the lungs or skin. In such cases, the oral dose would be
the critical dose.
The most highly toxic substances are those that cause death or
severe illness in very small doses (category I). These must be labeled
DANGER POISON. Most household cleaning products are in category III
and bear the word CAUTION on their labels. Consumers are advised
to handle even category IV chemicals with caution, since these too
can be poisonous in very large doses.
In addition, the EPA has adopted a classification system for carcinogens (cancer-causing substances). The system, shown in Table
6.3, is similar to that developed by the International Agency for
Research on Cancer.
As we can see, the classification of substances by toxicity is a
very complex topic. There are many variables involved, information on many chemicals is incomplete, and it is not possible to
compare directly the hazards of acute versus chronic exposures,
or carcinogenic versus non-carcinogenic substances. Nevertheless,
toxicity is an exceedingly important characteristic and must be taken

Table 6.2 EPA guidelines for toxicity (U.S. Forest Service, 1984).
Oral LD50
Toxicity Category (mg/kg)

Dermal LD50
(mg/kg)

I DANGER POISON
II WARNING
III CAUTION
IV caution

<200
200-2,000
2,000-20,000
>20,000

<50
50-500
500-5,000
>5,000

Inhalation LC50
(mg/L dust)
(ppm vapour/gas)
<2
2-20
20-200
>200

<200
200-2,000
2,000-20,000
>20,000

Note: mg/kg is the number of mg of the substance taken per kg of body weight. LD50 and LC50 are the
lethal dose and lethal concentration, respectively, at which 50% of ingesting organisms die.

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Table 6.3 EPA classification system for carcinogens.

Group A. Human carcinogen
There is sufficient evidence from epidemiological studies to support a causeeffect relationship between the substance and cancer.
Group B. Probable human carcinogen
B1: There is sufficient evidence for carcinogenity from animal studies and
limited evidence from epidemiological studies.
B2: There is sufficient evidence for carcinogenity from animal studies, but
the epidemiological data are inadequate or nonexistent.
Group C. Possible human carcinogen
There is limited evidence of carcinogenity from animal studies and no epi
demiological data.
Group D. Not classifiable as to human carcinogenity
Data are inadequate or completely lacking, so no assessment as to the
substance's cancer-causing hazard is possible.
Group E. Evidence of noncarcinogenity for humans
Substances in this category have tested negative in at least two adequate (as
defined by the EPA) animal cancer tests in different species and in adequate
epidemiological and animal studies. Classification in group E is based on
available evidence; substances may prove to be carcinogenic under certain
conditions.

into consideration when making waste management decisions. The

development of a simplified "toxicity index" that could be applied
to all waste types would be very useful.
Risk Assessment

To understand the risk or hazard associated with a disposal or waste

management facility, it is necessary to conduct a detailed risk assessment or pathways analysis. Over the past decade, risk assessment methodology has evolved considerably, and there is now a
general consensus on the approaches and methods that should be
applied. Risk-based management allows decisions to be made regarding waste facilities or contaminated sites that are quantitative,
objective, and consistent for different sites and facilities with different characteristics. Needless to say, risk assessment is complex
and involves many scientific disciplines.
Figure 6.3 shows the pathways by which contamination might
escape from a conceptual waste disposal facility and travel
by groundwater, surface water, and/or air to reach the environment and give a dose to receptors such as humans, animals, and
plants.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

6.3 Schematic of risk assessment pathways.

Risk assessment begins by defining the source termthat is, the

volumes and toxicity of the materials in the facility. Then computer
simulations track the contaminants as they escape or are emitted
from the facility and travel through air, surface, and subsurface
routes to reach humans. This analysis requires that all possible
pathways by which contaminants can travel be identified and quantified. For example, for a landfill, the process by which a subsurface liner might degrade and allow waste compounds to leach into
the groundwater would be modeled. The pathway that the contaminants travel through the groundwater to reach water wells and plants
would be modeled, as well as the amount of the contaminant that
then gets ingested by a human using the well and eating the plants.
Similarly, all other realistic routes would be included. Doses are
calculated for a hypothetical individual or some critical population
group residing in a location where exposures are highest. The results are usually stated in relative terms in chances per million of
contracting, say, cancer, after a lifetime of exposure (70 years) to
the emissions from the facility.
This is a complicated process and requires a knowledge not only
of the toxicity of wastes but also of their physical and chemical
forms. In addition, detailed knowledge of the natural setting of the
waste disposal facility is necessary, including its geography, geology, surface and groundwater, vegetation, human settlement, and
so on. Risk assessment is becoming the preferred method for making decisions regarding waste management. For example, risk assessment calculations are performed to justify environmental regulations and to design and license waste management facilities.

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

A risk assessment is typically used in the following manner in

designing a waste disposal facility. The source material and its toxicity are calculated, based on data from waste generators. Then a
disposal facility is designed to contain this waste for a selected site.
A risk assessment is performed using this information and yields
doses to critical population groups in the vicinity. If it turns out that
the doses are unacceptahly high, the design of the waste disposal
facility can be adjustedfor example, by increasing the thickness
of the engineered barriers preventing escape of the wastes until the
calculated doses to the critical population group are acceptable. In
this manner, the future performance of a disposal facility can be
evaluated, allowing weaknesses to be identified and modifications
to be made as necessary, before the start of construction. These
calculations can also be used as part of the licensing process to
demonstrate to the regulatory agency that the facility will be safe.
Hazardous Lifetime

Many wastes decompose with time. They degrade into more stable
forms, and their toxicity usually decreases as time passes. Thus, an
important waste characteristic is the length of time over which a
substance remains hazardous. An understanding of this characteristic is essential to managing wastes properly. For example, if a
particular waste stream degrades to an innocuous level in a decade
or two, it would be a waste of resources, although perfectly safe, to
build a disposal facility to last for centuries. In a case that more
closely reflects our current practice, when a waste stream has a
hazardous lifetime spanning several centuries, it would be unsafe
and irresponsible to construct a disposal facility that only provides
security for decades.
The decomposition of many organic compounds is exponential
with time, often obeying first-order rate constants. That is, their
decomposition can be described in the same way as radioactive
decay, using the concept of half-lifethe period of time in which
the compound degrades to half its original level of activity. These
half-lives may be years, decades, or even centuries, particularly for
compounds such as PCBs. For example, the half-lives of toluene and
dieldrin are 10.4 hours and 2.96 years, respectively. The hazardous lifetime of a specific compound, then, can be measured in the
number of half-lives required for it to decompose to an acceptably
low concentration.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

The specific duration required for organic compounds to decompose to less complex forms, and ultimately to water and carbon
dioxide, depends on many factors, such as the availability of oxygen (aerobic or anaerobic conditions), the chemical composition of
the wastes, the presence of water or leachate, temperature, and the
permeability of the waste mass. Most of the decomposition of organic wastes in a landfill occurs under anaerobic conditions (lacking oxygen) and results in the production of methane and carbon
dioxide. This process depends on site-specific conditions, but it
takes approximately 50 to 150 years.
In contrast, inorganic components of waste, such as heavy metals and their compounds, never degrade or decompose. Thus, they
effectively have an infinitely long hazardous lifetime. Under certain chemical conditions, however, these inorganic compounds can
be adsorbed, or bound up, with other wastes and landfill contents
for very long periods until the chemical conditions that promote
adsorption change. In other words, in a landfill, the hazard decreases
with time down to a base level, which is greater than zero. The
hazard or risk of a landfill never goes to zero owing to the presence
of inorganic materials. This concept is illustrated schematically in
Figure 6.4.
This very important waste characteristic of longevity is not generally taken into account in the design and regulation of municipal
or industrial landfills. Most landfills are only required to be monitored for approximately 25 years after closure. This period is inadequate even for the organic or short-lived component of waste, and
it is woefully inadequate for the inorganic component.
In summary, municipal, hazardous, and industrial wastes con-

6.4 Landfill hazard as a function of time.

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

tain both organic and inorganic constituents. The former have a

relatively short hazardous lifetime (a few to a few hundred years),
whereas the latter have a long lifetime (effectively forever).
Radioactive wastes share this dual character. Nuclear wastes
consist of two types of material, fission products and transuranic
elements. Fission products decay to stable configurations in periods from a few minutes to a few hundred years, depending on the
particular nuclear isotope (there are many different fission products
created in the nuclear fuel while it is in a nuclear reactor). Transuranic elements, on the other hand, decay to stable configurations
much more slowly. There are many transuranics formed in nuclear
reactions, and some of these take thousands or even tens of thousands of years to reach a stable form. During the period when the
radioactive elements are decaying, they emit radiation and therefore are hazardous. The transuranic elements are, for practical purposes, hazardous forever: compared to the short span of a human
lifetime, tens of thousands of years can be considered as an infinite
time.
Although radioactive wastes are seen by the public as a menacing, highly toxic, and largely incomprehensible threat, their
health effects are similar in character to those of other waste types.
As shown earlier in this chapter, the chief impact of radioactive
wastes is that they cause cancer. Thousands of non-radioactive
wastes also cause cancer. Furthermore, the hazardous lifetimes of
radioactive wastes are comparable to those of the other, more common waste types. The relatively short-lived fission products are
analogous to the organics, and the long-lived transuranics are similar to inorganics such as heavy metals.
Two important points emerge from this discussion. First, all
waste classes should be managed in a manner that takes into account
their hazardous lifetime. In particular, disposal facilities should be
designed so that they provide protection to the environment for both
the short term and the long term. The latter timeframe has generally not been addressed.
Second, the common perception that radioactive wastes are very
different from other, more common waste types is largely a misconception: radioactive wastes share many important characteristics
with other wastes. This suggests that we would benefit from a uniform and standardized approach to all wastes. This has many implications. First, there is a need to develop disposal facilities that
provide protection over the long term. In this regard, disposal meth-

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THE WASTE CRISIS

odologies proposed for nuclear wastes are more advanced than those
for other waste types. The fundamental similarities between waste
types suggest that a common regulatory scheme should be used for
all wastes, rather than having different agencies issuing different
regulations.

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. List hazardous materials that are discarded in garbage from
households and businesses. List hazardous wastes that arise
in a university.
2. Find out how much municipal solid waste your community generates and determine its percentage composition,
using the categories shown in Figure 6.1. How do they
compare? What are the reasons for any differences?
3. Assume that the legal limit for disposal into landfill of benzene in sludge from a factory is 5 ppb (parts per billion). Fifty
days after disposal of some sludge, a sample was analyzed
and yielded a concentration of 1.35 ppb. If the first-order
removal rate constant for benzene is 0.00345/hr, what was
the concentration of benzene when the sludge was brought
to the landfill? Should the disposal have been allowed? [C(t)
= C(0)*exp(-kt) where k is the first-order removal rate constant, and C(t) is the concentration at time t]
4. Contact the EPA or other environmental and health organizations and find examples of chemicals that fit each of
the categories in tables 6.2 (toxicity categories) and 6.3 (carcinogen classification).
5. Draw up a list of information that you would require to
conduct a risk assessment of a municipal landfill serving a
community of 400,000. Qualitatively, describe the steps in
the assessment and which information is required in each
step.
Suggested Reading
Carson, Rachel. 1962. Silent Spring. Cambridge, Mass.: Riverside Press.
Fletcher, W. W. 1974. The Pest War. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Glenn, W. M. 1989. A Reporter's Guide to the Chemicals in Today's
Headlines. Toronto: Ontario Waste Management Corporation.
Griffin, R. D. 1988. Principles of Hazardous Materials Management.
Chelsea, Mich.: Lewis.
Harte, J., C. Holdren, R. Schneider, and C. Shirley. 1991. Toxics A to
Z: A Guide to Everyday Pollution Hazards. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.

WASTES: KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Klaassen, C. D., M. O. Amdur, and J. Doull. 1986. Casarett and Doull's

Toxicology: The Basic Science of Poisons. 3rd edn. New York:
Macmillan.
Parmeggiani, L. (ed.). 1983. Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and
Safety. 3rd edn. Geneva: International Labour Office.
Paustenbach, D. J. 1989. The Risk Assessment of Environmental Hazards: A Textbook of Case Studies. Somerset, N.J.: John Wiley &
Sons.
Rathje, W. L., and L. Psihoyos. 1991. Once and Future Landfills. National Geographic, May, pp. 116134.
Reynolds, A. B. 1996. Bluebells and Nuclear Energy. Madison, Wise.:
Cogito Books.

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7
LANDFILLS
How Do They Work?

T hroughout history the landfill has been the bottom line of waste
management: this is where the buck stops. Because of its fundamental importance, a thorough understanding of how a landfill is designed and operated is necessary.
Municipal landfills are the most common; they accept our household garbage and often take some commercial and industrial waste
as well. They are generally operated by local municipalities, although some are privately owned. We are all stakeholders in the
landfill, however, contributing our share when we place our garbage by the curbside each week.
Another type of landfill is that used by industries. These are generally situated near the industrial plants they serve and are usually
dedicated to the specific process wastes produced at the factory. In
terms of design, they do not differ significantly from municipal landfills. There are also "secure" landfills for hazardous waste, known
in the United States as Subtitle C hazardous waste disposal sites.
These different landfills do not differ greatly in design, and the
following descriptions are largely applicable to all of them. A number of specific case histories are presented in chapter 11.
Siting

Historically, it has been convenient to site landfills in depressions

such as ravines, canyons, abandoned quarries, and open pits that
could be easily filled up. These locations were selected largely on
89

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THE WASTE CRISIS

the basis of convenience, with proximity to the centers being served

and price of land being key parameters. In the early 1900s, and even
as late as the early 1970s, landfills were seen as an ideal way of "reclaiming" swamps and wetlands. With the loss of natural areas to
urbanization and agriculture, and with the recognition that wetlands
play an important role in the ecosystem, this practice is no longer
condoned.
It is now recognized that one of the most effective ways of protecting the environment is by carefully siting landfills at locations
that provide natural security. In particular, the geological formation
should contain or naturally attenuate contaminants to acceptable
concentrations. If natural attenuation is not possible, then engineered barriers must be incorporated. Today, the trend is toward
both incorporating extensive engineered barriers and seeking sites
that offer geological containment.
Landfill site selection is a complex process in which many technical factors must be considered: surface and ground water, the
presence of suitable soil and natural conditions, transportation
routes, topography, the presence of endangered or sensitive species,
and much more. In addition, land planning and politics play an
enormous role, with the latter often the dominating force. Site selection in our modern era of NIMBY, legal obstruction, and citizens'
protest movements, could easily be the subject of many books. Only
some basic technical requirements of siting are discussed here; the
NIMBY phenomenon is described in chapter 12.
Site selection often takes place in two phases. The first looks at
a regional area, using available information such as geological maps
and reports on meteorology, flora, fauna, and other features. Onsite investigations at this phase are generally restricted to visual
inspections. The regional phase concludes with the identification
of several specific areas that might be suitable for a landfill. The second phase focuses on these specific areas and includes detailed onsite studies such as soil drilling and sampling, groundwater investigations, and weather monitoring. In this phase, the facility design
is integrated with the site so that the natural setting and facility features combine to offer maximum containment of the wastes and protection of the environment.
A well-defined process must be established so that decisions
will be made in a systematic and documented manner as the siting progresses from large regions to specific areas. This is critical
to ensuring that the final site is defensible, acceptable to the public, and likely to gain the required regulatory approvals.

LANDFILLS

Traditionally, regional siting has involved a technique called

"constraint mapping." This involves defining characteristics that are
undesirable for landfill sites, then systematically eliminating areas
that possess those characteristics. Usually, computer methods such
as Geographic Information Systems are used to produce the maps.
Input from the public and regulators is important in defining the
constraints to be applied. Typical constraints might be avoiding
floodplains, maintaining at least 100 meters distance from lakes or
streams, leaving a buffer zone of at least 400 meters around the nests
of endangered bird species, or avoiding archeological and historic
sites. Overlay maps can be produced on transparencies, in which
each overlay has a different constraint shaded. When the overlays
are superimposed, as shown schematically in Figure 7.1, the areas
that show through clearly are those that have no constraints; these
can be investigated further as potential landfill sites.

7.1 Application of criteria overlays in constraint mapping for site

selection.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Positive attributes can also be defined at a relatively early stage

of siting. These might include proximity to transportation, availability of electricity and other utilities, impermeable subsoils, or a
deep water table.
These constraints and attributes are systematically applied in a
predetermined manner until the array of sites under consideration
has been reduced to one or a few preferred areas.
In local siting, a number of detailed studies are undertaken on
the preferred area(s) to determine:
Geologic setting including soils, bedrock, and their spatial
variations: Areas should be avoided that have karst landscape (limestone bedrock with dissolution caverns and
potholes), unstable slopes prone to landslides, subsurface
mines, or seismic activity.
Surface water and groundwater: A thorough understanding of the latter is essential, including groundwater quality, flow directions, location and extent of aquifers, and
location of wells. Areas to be avoided include floodplains
and wetlands.
Biological resources and uses. Areas to be avoided include
those with endangered species.
Local microclimates and dispersion patterns.
Adjacent land use: Landfills should not be sited near airports because they attract birds, which can cause airplane
crashes.
Social and cultural patterns.
To aid in the comparison of sites, a numerical ranking can be used
by developing a set of N criteria and then assigning each one a
weighting factor, W1. Typical criteria include subsoil permeability,
soil cation exchange capacity, proximity to transportation, proximity to streams or lakes, seismic activity of the area, steepness of topography, depth to the water table, and proximity to groundwater
wells. The ranking score Rj for site j is then:

Sjj is the criterion score with regard to criterion i for site j. For example, a site that is considered good with respect to criterion i could
be given a criterion score of 3; a site that is moderate would receive
a 2; a site that is fair, a 1; and one that is poor would receive a 0.
The Wi values stay the same, whereas the Sij values change for each
site. In this way, different sites can be compared in an objective,
quantitative fashion.

LANDFILLS

An important part of both regional and local siting is integrating

the investigations and the siting process with an information program that seeks the input of local people and politicians and keeps
them fully aware of progress. Typically, community meetings are
used to gain consensus on which constraints are to be applied at
the regional level, and what criteria and weighting factors should
be used in comparing and selecting specific sites.
Landfill Design: Anatomy of a Landfill

This section describes the anatomy of landfills and how they are
constructed and operated. Typically, there is little difference between municipal and industrial landfills, so the description that
follows is, in most regards, typical of both.
Basic Shape

The basic method of landfilling has not changed dramatically over

the years. Today, natural depressions are still used where possible.
Where they are not present, shallow holes are dug into the soil, using
bulldozers and other excavating machinery. Landfills are generally
designed in a number of cells; within each cell the garbage is placed
in a series of "lifts" (the waste emplaced in one day) to allow the
landfill to grow in the vertical as well as the horizontal direction.
The patterns of cell and lift construction are carefully planned for
access, to minimize travel distances and to allow travel over previously filled areas so they will be compacted. A major advantage of
landfills is that little upfront capital is required because the cells
are developed as required.
There are two primary methods of developing a landfillthe
trench and area methodsalthough variations and combinations are
possible (O'Leary et al., 1986). In the former, a trench is initially
excavated, and then solid waste is spread and compacted in it in
lifts. The soil removed from the trench is used as cover material. In
general, the trench method is used in relatively flat terrain where
the groundwater table is relatively deep and the soil is more than
two meters thick.
The area method, which is suitable for more varied topography,
is used when large quantities of waste must be disposed of. Solid
waste is spread and compacted on the natural surface of the ground,
and cover material is brought from off-site.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

In recent times, with the difficulty of siting new landfills, it has

become necessary to raise existing landfills to significant heights.
In such circumstances the trench method is used at the hase, and
the area method is then used to build the landfill up to its final
height.
A considerable amount of engineering planning and design is
necessary for a modern landfill. Projections of future waste generation rates must be made, and based on these, the landfill is designed.
Layouts and cross-sections are drawn that allow for the projected
growth in a rational manner. Site drainage, roads for vehicle access,
and support facilities such as buildings and retention ponds, are
included in the design.
By the 1970s and 1980s there was increased emphasis on the use
of technology and engineering for landfills. The main features added
to landfills over the past few decades include the following:

Daily covering of the garbage with soil or other inert material

Construction of an impermeable liner below the landfill
Placing an impermeable cover over the landfill
Collection of leachate
Collection and extraction of landfill gases
Monitoring the landfill and its environment

Figure 7.2 shows, in schematic form, the general layout and crosssection of a modern landfill. Figure 7.3 shows an aerial view of a
completed landfill cell next to a new cell that has just had a geomembrane bottom liner installed.

7.2 Schematic cross-section of a municipal solid waste landfill.

LANDFILLS

7.3 Aerial view of Trail Road landfill, Ottawa, Ontario, showing

a completed cell with composting windrows, a new cell with
geomembrane bottom liner, and a gas flaring stack (courtesy of
Regional Municipality of Ottawa Carleton).

Protective Cover

In terms of environmental protection, the final cover, or cap, over a

landfill is a key part of its overall design. Its primary objective is to
isolate the interior of the landfill from the infiltration of water and
thus to prevent the generation of leachate. The cap should be less
permeable than the bottom liner to prevent a build-up of water inside the landfill. The cover should be designed to promote the
growth of vegetation in order to protect the landfill from erosion
and intrusion by humans, burrowing animals, and plant roots, and
also to improve the esthetic appearance.
A typical final cover for a landfill can be from 0.6 to 2 meters thick.
An example of a final cover recommended by the USEPA is shown
in cross-section in Figure 7.4. Clay layers and very low-permeability
plastic liners (geomembranes), such as high-density polyethylene
(HDPE), are used either alone or together to prevent the entry of water.
The drainage layer diverts any infiltrating water to a collection and
removal system. Other components may consist of, in various combinations, geotextiles, sand, coarse sand and gravels, topsoil, and

95

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THE WASTE CRISIS

7.4 A landfill cover system recommended by USEPA.

grass. Geotextiles are essentially durable clothlike sheets that prevent

the materials of one layer from mixing with the materials of the adjacent layer, usually to prevent a drainage layer from becoming clogged
by finer particles. They allow gases and liquids to pass. If there is
concern about future human intrusion, perhaps after the landfill has
been abandoned, a layer of concrete or larger rocks (riprap) can also
be included, although this is not commonly done.
The final surface is graded to promote runoff of rainwater, and
vegetative cover is planted; this not only prevents erosion but also
promotes runoff and evaporation. Surface-water flow usually starts
as sheet flow, but it can concentrate over short distances to form
rills and then gullies which erode the cap and carry sediments
downward. With the modern trend to higher landfills, a heavy rainstorm can cause considerable damage. The choice of soils, topographic shape, and plants, combined with flow velocity and erosion analyses to minimize such erosion (for example, refer to Oweis
& Khera, 1998), is an important part of landfill design. Overall site
drainage needs to direct rainwater away from filled and operating
areas, thus preventing it from infiltrating into the landfill.
A significant difference between covers and bottom liners is that
the latter are constructed on solid foundations so that there will be

LANDFILLS

very little settlement. Covers, however, will be subjected to considerable settlement as the wastes below gradually decompose and
compact. Because of the landfill's heterogeneous contents, settlement will not be uniform, and stress on the cover will cause it to
crack. In addition, freeze/thaw cycles during winter, spring downpours, and wind erosion will all act quietly but persistently to degrade the cover. For these reasons, not only must the cover be designed and constructed with extreme care: it will also be necessary
to inspect and perform repairs and maintenance for many decades,
if not centuries, after closure, until the landfill no longer poses a
hazard.
Bottom Liners: Barriers against Leaking Leachate

The bottom liner, the layer that underlies the landfill, is the single
most important element of a landfill. The purpose of this component is, first and foremost, to contain any leachate generated in
the landfill and prevent it from leaving the site and contaminating nearby surface waters and groundwater. Landfill liners are composed of essentially the same elements as the final cover, although
the order of their arrangement is somewhat different.
In 1982 the U.S. EPA banned reliance on clay liners alone for
hazardous waste sites and specified the use of single or double liners made of impermeable synthetic membranes. Regulations issued
by the EPA in 1991 require that new municipal landfills have a
minimum of six layers of protection between the garbage and the
underlying groundwater. At present, an estimated two-thirds of U.S.
landfills do not have liners.
Figure 7.5 shows a cross-section of a state-of-the-art liner system installed at a modern landfill (ECDC Environmental, n.d.). The
main barriers to leakage are 1.2 meters of remolded clay and a
plastic liner. The latter is typically high-density polyethylene with
a thickness of approximately 2 millimeters (i.e., about 80 mils; one
mil is one thousandth of an inch). Figure 7.6 shows a bottom liner
being installed.
Clay that has been remoldedreworked and compacted to make
it very watertightis a preferred liner for landfills. Because natural geologic materials have remained in place for many thousands
of years, it can be expected that clay liners will remain undisturbed
for similar periods. The most serious problem with clays is their
tendency to crack when they become dry.

97

7.5 Detail of a bottom-liner system at East Carbon landfill, Utah

(courtesy of ECDC Environmental).

7.6 Installation of bottom liner at Trail Road landfill, Ottawa,

Ontario (courtesy of Regional Municipality of Ottawa Carleton).

LANDFILLS

Plastic liners, called "geomembranes," provide good containment

in the short term, but they can easily be damaged by heavy equipment; moreover, we have no experience in assessing their resistance
to degradation over long time spans such as a century or more. Clay
and geomembranes used in the cover and liner systems are discussed in greater detail in chapter 10.
An important part of the liner system is a leachate collection system located above the impermeable layer. Horizontal perforated
pipes are inserted in each drainage layer to collect leachate. The
purpose is to reduce the head (the pressure) on the impermeable
part of the liner system; the EPA requires that buildup of leachate
head in the upper drainage layer of a composite liner system should
not exceed 30.5 cm (one foot). The lower drainage layer is monitored to detect any leakage from above. Leachate is pumped to surface holding tanks and either treated on site or sent to a sewage treatment plant. Alternately, the leachate might be recirculated back into
the landfill to promote decomposition. If the leachate is treated on
site, the treatment plant should be designed to deal with a range of
leachate compositions reflecting the changes that are expected over
time.

A Different Kind of Liner

At the Regions! Municipality of Halton, west of Toronto, Ontario, art innovative bottom liner system was used In a newly constructed landfill. The main
protective bottom layer consists of clay, which is common practice. But instead of a synthetic (HDPE) membrane to provide a secondary bottom liner
as is the norm, they use a hydraulic barrier created by puniping water into a
30-centimeter-thick layer of 5-centimeter stones below the clay liner at the
bottom of the landfill A positive pressure is maintained that prevents leachate
from migrating downward into the undertying native soils (Lowry and Chan,
1994),

To provide safety through redundancy, the EPA requires that dual

leachate systems as well as leak detection systems be installed as
part of liner systems for new landfills in the United States.
Landfill construction requires that large rolls or panels of
geomembrane liners be joined in the field. This critically important operation requires careful attention so that the seams do not
form zones of weakness or leakage. The techniques used to join
geomembranes are described in chapter 10.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Operation

Landfills are far from elegant. Most of us have made a visit to the
local dump to drop off a load of tree cuttings, an old sofa, or other
items too cumbersome to be picked up at curbside. As we enter the
landfill site, our first impression is of dust, litter, and pandemonium.
Trucks and cars are traveling in many directions, usually trailing
plumes of dust. As we near the tipping face, the amount of windblown paper and other debris increasesas does the smell. Bulldozers are moving here and there, shifting mounds of garbage in
seemingly random directions and compacting the garbage below.
Seagulls or crows congregate at the face where garbage is being
placed, constantly wheeling, landing, and taking off again (Fig. 7.7);
their plaintive screeching is a trademark of landfills.
Behind the apparent disorganization, however, is a complex and
well-managed operation. In addition to the tipping of garbage, other
important facilities and operations at a modern landfill can include:
A scale house near the landfill entrance where incoming
garbage trucks are weighed and their loads inspected.
A depot where household hazardous wastes can be dropped
off. These special wastes include paints, oils, aerosol containers, pesticides, batteries, propane tanks, antifreeze, and
expired pharmaceuticals.

7.7 The plaintive screech of seagulls is a trademark of landfills.

LANDFILLS

An area where trees and other yard debris can be dropped

off: an industrial-sized shredder reduces branches and bushes
to mulch, which can be used in the municipality's landscaping programs, sold, or used as cover material at the landfill.
An area where leaves, grass cuttings, and other organic
materials are placed in windrows for composting.
An area for large recyclable materials such as "white goods"
(household appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, or lawnmowers) and tires. The white goods
are periodically removed by scrap-metal dealers who recycle the steel, copper, and other useful materials. Tires are
also removed periodically to be used for making rubber
products or for incineration for energy.
An administrative building contains offices, often a visitors'
center with displays, and a laboratory for analyses in the
extensive monitoring programs that form part of the operation of a modern landfill.
Most of the action takes place at the working face of the daily lift.
Important tools in the operation of the landfill include bulldozers for
spreading and compacting trash to the proper thickness and horizontal extent of the lift. Separate compactors are used to compress the
garbage more and ensure that a maximum density is achieved, so that
subsequent settlement is minimized. Figure 7.8 shows a compactor

7.8 A compactor at work (courtesy of Regional Municipality of

Ottawa Carleton).

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THE WASTE CRISIS

at work, and Figure 7.9 shows typical heavy equipment used at landfills. The size of the daily working face is kept to a minimum to conserve the amount of cover material and reduce windblown litter.
The amount of cover material used in a landfill can be quite substantial, and its supply and stockpiling is an important part of planning and operation. As a cell is filled, refuse is generally not left
uncovered for more than 12 hours. At least 30 centimeters of cover
is placed if an area will not be used again for a period of a few days
or weeks; generally, at least 60 centimeters is placed once an area
is completed.
The placement of daily cover prevents rodents from burrowing
or tunneling in the waste; it keeps flies from emerging, and it discourages birds from scavenging. It minimizes moisture infiltration
and thus the generation of leachate. It controls blowing paper and

7.9 Typical equipment used at landfills

LANDFILLS

litter, which is an important esthetic consideration where residential or commercial areas are located nearby. Finally, it reduces the
potential for fires in the garbage.
An operating landfill usually includes fences erected specifically
to catch wind-blown litter. Often, a landfill also has an active program to minimize the number of birds, primarily seagulls. Rodentcontrol programs are also an essential part of landfill operation.

Landfill Dynamics: Decomposition

A landfill is a dynamic entity which goes through a varied and evolving lifespan. Although the hustle and bustle that characterizes an
operating landfill is no longer evident once it has been closed and
capped, action continues below the cover. At this point, the primary
"living" mechanism is the decomposition of the organic material
in the waste.
Decomposition is the breakdown of the organic materials in the
landfill, and it is important that this process be understood. The
three main consequences of decomposition are:
Generation of acid leachate
Generation of potentially explosive landfill gas
Settlement of the landfill, with potential cracking and degradation of the cover
There are many misconceptions about this process. On the one
hand, the landfill is seen as a source of rich, moist humus that can
be recycled to greenhouses, farmers' fields, and back to our home
gardens. At the opposite extreme, biodegradation in the landfill is
envisioned as the source of toxic leachate that can pollute our drinking water. In reality, very little has been known until recently about
the processes that occur inside landfills.
The Garbage Project conducted by the University of Arizona,
described in chapter 6, has unearthed a wealth of information about
the contents of landfills (Rathje & Psihoyos, 1991). They found that
although biodegradation takes place, it does so on a much smaller
scale than had previously been thought. The authors observed,
"Well-designed and managed landfills seem to be far more apt to
preserve their contents for posterity than to transform them into
humus or mulch. They are not vast composters; rather they are vast
mummifiers." This is so, at least in part, because low moisture content (generally less than 20% by weight; see Oweis & Khera, p. 295)

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THE WASTE CRISIS

inhibits decomposition. Modern landfills minimize moisture content by the use of impermeable landfill covers which prevent the
entry of water, as well as by leachate control systems which remove
leachate from the bottoms of the landfills.
The Garbage Project noted that organics like food and yard wastes
were the only items that could be considered truly vulnerable to
biodegradation under normal landfill conditions. The decomposition process is highly complex and is exceedingly variable from
place to place throughout the landfill. Some archeological digs
have found that even after 2,000 years, much garbage has not fully
decomposed.
Certain clues have hinted at this fact. For example, a landfill's
methane generation in most cases amounts to less than half of what
is theoretically achievable. Landfills tend to vent methane in relatively copious amounts, at least in terms of economic energy extraction, for a decade or two, and then production drops off relatively quickly.
Refuse typically consists of 40% to 50% cellulose, 12% hemicellulose, 10% to 15% lignin, and 4% protein on a dry weight basis,
with the cellulose and hemicellulose accounting for 91% of the
methane generation at a landfill (Barlaz et al., 1990). Rubber and
most plastics are relatively resistant to biodegradation.
Biological decomposition in a landfill takes place in three stages,
each of which has unique characteristics (McBean et al,, 1995).
These are described below and summarized in Table 7.1.
Aerobic Decomposition
This process requires the presence of oxygen and is the first to occur; it lasts until the available oxygen is consumed. This stage usually lasts for a short time, although it can continue in smaller, localized areas near the surface where a continued supply of air can
be obtained. A general relationship for this process is:
Table 7.1. The three stages of biodegradation in a landfill.
Stage

Products

Notes

Aerobic
Acetogenic
Anaerobic

CO2 + Heat + H2O

CO2 + H2O + acids
CH4 + CO2 + H2O

Needs O2; short-lived

Anaerobic; creates aggressive leachate
Long-lived; methane can be used as
energy source

LANDFILLS
Biodegradable waste + O2 > CO2 + H2O + heat + degraded waste
Note that no methane is produced in this stage. The aerobic microorganisms, however, produce carbon dioxide levels as high as
90%, and the temperature can rise to 70C. The elevated level of
carbon dioxide leads to the formation of carbonic acid, which results in acidic conditions in the waste leachate.
Acid-phase Anaerobic Decomposition

This is the second stage of waste decomposition. It involves different microorganisms that become dominant as oxygen is depleted
and continue the decomposition process. Large quantities of organic
acids, ammonia, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide are produced
hence the name "acid" or "acetogenic" phase for this stage. Acid
fermentation prevails, yielding high levels of carbon dioxide, partially degraded organics (especially organic acids), and some heat.
The process can be described as follows:
Biodegradable waste -> CO2 + H2O + organic acids + degraded waste
Note that no methane is generated during this stage of decomposition. The production of carbon dioxide and large amounts of organic acids results in an acidic leachate, with the lowering of pH to
about 5.5 to 6.5; this in turn causes other organics and inorganics
to dissolve. The outcome is a chemically aggressive leachate with
high specific conductance caused by the materials it has dissolved.
Anaerobic Decomposition

The third and final stage of biodegradation, also known as the

methanogenic stage, is the longest-lasting and most prevalent. As
the oxygen becomes depleted, anaerobic methanogenic bacteria become dominant. These organisms produce carbon dioxide, methane, water, and some heat. The gas methane is a particularly important product which is extracted at many landfills and used as
an energy source. Typically, the organisms work slowly but efficiently over many years to decompose the remaining organic constituents of the waste. The methanogenic bacteria utilize the end
products of the previous anaerobic acid stagehydrogen and acetic acid (CH3COOH)as follows (McBean et al., 1995):

105

106

THE WASTE CRISIS

Consumption of the organic acids raises the pH of the leachate

to near neutralthat is, a pH of 7 to 8. As a result, the leachate becomes less aggressive chemically and possesses a lower total organic
strength. Some organic acids are converted directly into methane,
while others go through intermediate steps.
The gases nitrogen (N2) and toxic hydrogen sulfide (H2S) may also
be generated during anaerobic decomposition. Nitrogen is produced
by a process called "denitrincation" in which the nitrate ion is reduced.
Hydrogen sulfide is produced by sulfate-reducing microorganisms.
Hydrogen, which was produced in the acid-phase stage, is consumed
during this stage and is generally not found in the presence of methane. Small amounts of many other gases can be generated, depending
on the composition of the waste (see Table 7.3 below).
The methanogenic stage may not commence until six months to
a few years after waste emplacement. The onset of this stage is accelerated by a high water content which causes anaerobic conditions. The optimal pH for the methanogenic phase is near neutral.
The best temperature conditions are in the range of 30 to 3 5C, with
a second but lesser optimum around 45C; most landfills are in the
former temperature range.
It should be noted that oxygen is toxic to the methanogenic bacteria. In producing methane for energy, it is important that the extraction wells do not pump so hard that air is pulled in from the landfill
surface, because this will poison the methane-generating species.
Working with Biodegradation

In summary, the biodegradation process breaks down complex organic molecules into simpler molecules. Although there are several
intermediate steps, the final products are water, carbon dioxide, and
methane (methane is the principal constituent of natural gas). It
should be noted that the process of decomposition destroys some
hazardous organic compoundsthat is, it breaks them down into
harmless components. However, inorganic compounds such as
heavy metals are not affected by decomposition.
Operating landfills that are actively receiving garbage can be
undergoing all three decompositional stages simultaneously at different locations. Normally, within the first few years following the

LANDFILLS

closure of a cell, the anaerobic stage becomes dominant and remains

so until all the available organic materials have been decomposed.
As the landfill ages, the gas production rates gradually decrease,
although the generation of landfill gas can continue for many decades. It is this long-drawn-out decomposition and methane production process that makes the extraction of methane for energy an
economical undertaking.
A great deal can be learned about a landfill's contents and internal conditions by monitoring the gases and leachate. This is a potential method of studying old, closed landfills for which no records
exist.
As shown in laboratory experiments, biodegradation in a landfill could be accelerated significantly by controlling and operating
landfills differently than is currently done. Factors that enhance
decomposition include:
Mulching wood and lumber debris to increase their surface
area
Not compacting garbage initially, but delaying compaction
for many years or decades until the decomposition is relatively complete
Recirculating leachate through the landfill to maintain a
high moisture content
Adding chemicals and/or microorganisms to the recirculating leachate to promote biodegradation
Aerating the landfill; this may increase the rate of decomposition but will reduce methane production
Leachate

It is ironic that the main threat to the environment from landfills

that accept solid waste comes in liquid form. Some leachate is produced by organic decomposition and compaction of wet refuse,
but most is generated by water infiltration from rain or snowmelt.
These enter the landfill primarily during its operation before the
final cap is emplaced, but they also get in in smaller amounts
after closure, by leakage through the cap. This liquid spends many
years percolating through the landfill. During this time it comes
into contact with fingernail polish remover, paints, pesticides,
motor oil, and the thousands of other items that make up the landfill. The water leaches and dissolves various constituents until it
contains a load of heavy metals, chlorinated organic compounds,

107

108

THE WASTE CRISIS

and other substances that can harm nearby watercourses and the
underlying groundwater.
It is important to understand the quality and quantity of leachate
that will be formed. Unfortunately, the processes by which leachate
is generated are complex and difficult to model. Numerous factors
are involved, including a detailed understanding of the water cycle,
local geological conditions, waste composition, and landfill design. A number of computer models have been developed to model
leachate generation. One that is in widespread use in North America
is HELP, which stands for Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance (Schroeder et al., 1994). HELP estimates daily, monthly,
or annual quantities of runoff, evapotranspiration, lateral drainage
flux, and leakage of leachate through clay and membrane liners.
Computer programs such as HELP can be used not only to help
design new landfills but also to assess the environmental impact of
older, closed landfills.
Although leachate composition is highly variable, it can be categorized into three distinct groups: heavy metals, dissolved solids,
and organic compounds. Each of these should be addressed separately in leachate treatment systems (Sirman, 1995). The main heavy
metals of concern are lead and cadmium. Sources of lead include
lead-acid batteries, plastics, cans, used oil, and lightbulbs; sources
of cadmium include nickel-cadmium batteries, plastics, nonfood
packaging, and electronic appliances.
The chemical composition of leachate can vary greatly depending on the age of the landfill. For example, in the acid phase of
decomposition, the pH value is low and the concentrations of BOD
(biological oxygen demand), COD (chemical oxygen demand), nutrients, and heavy metals is high. During the methanogenic stage,
however, the pH is in the range 6.5 to 7.5 and the concentrations of
BOD, COD, nutrients, and heavy metals will decrease as they are
less soluble at neutral pH values. In general, leachate composition
changes from a higher concentration of biological materials to a
higher concentration of heavy metals and total dissolved solids
(TDS) as the landfill matures.
Typical ranges of the concentration of selected parameters in
leachate are shown in Table 7.2. For comparison, the guidelines for
Canadian Drinking Water Quality are also shown. It is seen that for
almost all the listed parameters, the upper levels of the ranges of
concentration exceed guidelines established for drinking water in
Canada. In addition to these parameters, municipal and industrial
landfills can contain other toxic and hazardous compounds, such

LANDFILLS

Table 7.2. Typical concentration ranges of leachate from municipal landfills (mg/L) (MOEE, 1993, and Crutcher & Yardley, 1992).
Parameter
pH (no units)
Alkalinity
Hardness
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN)
Ammonia
Nitrate
Nitrite
Sulphate (SOJ
Phosphate (PO4)
Aluminum
Arsenic
Barium
Beryllium
Boron
Bromide
Cadmium
Calcium
Chloride
Cobalt
Copper
Chromium
Fluoride
Iron
Lead
Magnesium
Manganese
Nickel
Potassium
Selenium
Sodium
Zinc

Range

CDWQG1

3.7-9
300-2,000
400-2,000
0-42,300
150-6,000
0-4,000
1-100
5-100
<1-0.5
<1
<1-300
1-10
<0.01-2
0.01-0.04
0.1-2
<0.0005
0.5-10
<1-15
<0.01
100-1,000
20-2,500
0.1-0.08
<0.008-10
<0.01-0.5
5-50
0.2-5,500
0-5
16.5-15,600
0.06-1,400
0.4-3
3-3,800
0.004- 0.004
0- 7,700
0-1,350

6.5-8.5

45
500

0.025
1

5
0.005

250
1
0.05
1.5
0.3
0.01

0.05

0.01
200
5

'CDWQG = Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines (Health and Welfare Canada,
1993).

as pesticides and heavy metals. It should be noted that the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines are so strict that many natural
waters do not meet all the objectives; nevertheless, they provide a
useful point of reference.
It would seem logical that a landfill should be designed to stimulate the decomposition process so that hazardous organic compounds
will be destroyed as quickly and completely as possible. Unfortunately, this leads to a dilemma. On the one hand, decomposition

109

110

THE WASTE CRISIS

works best when the wastes are wetthat is, with plenty of leachate
to cause anaerobic conditions. On the other hand, in modern landfill design, considerable effort is placed on ensuring that as little water
as possible enters the landfill.
Currently there is a debate between the merits of the "wet" and
"dry" landfill approaches. The wet-landfill theory holds that the
landfill should be saturated with as much liquid as possible to promote bacterial growth and the biodegradation process. Leachate is
collected; sometimes, treatment chemicals or microbes are added;
and the leachate is recirculated into the landfill. In this way leachate
is constantly circulating, and the process of biodegradation, which
destroys many organic compounds, is enhanced. It is also anticipated that other inorganic compounds will be absorbed as they
percolate through garbage (Pohland, 1989).
The "wet" approach is being used in the Keele Valley landfill,
Canada's largest landfill, which serves the Toronto area. The intent
of this "bioreactor" approach is to promote biodegradation in the
early stages of the landfill, when the bottom liner has its maximum
integrity. At a later stage, the landfill will be converted to dry entombment by placing an impermeable cover over it and pumping
out the leachate.
In contrast, the "dry-landfill" approach has the basic premise that
the drier a landfill is, the less chance it has of contaminating groundwater. An impermeable cover is an essential component of dry landfills. In addition, any leachate that forms is collected, removed, and
treated. Water treatment facilities are occasionally built at such landfill sites, but more often the leachate is collected and sent to a nearby
sewage treatment plant.
The process of decomposition is currently not well understood.
This lack of basic knowledge, coupled with a concern about the longterm effectiveness of the bottom liner, and the enormous difficulty
in remediating groundwater contamination once it has occurred, has
resulted in the Environmental Protection Agency emphasizing "dry
entombment." In fact, the wet type of landfill is illegal in many U.S.
states.
Leachate Treatment
The most carnnwn method of managing landfill leachate involves collecting
and transporting it to a sewage treatment plant. Although this approach is

LANDFILLS

Leachate Treatment (continued)

logistically convenient, since iandfills and sewage plants are generally owned
and operated by the same municipality, it is not necessarily a sound tecbnical solution, A study concluded that landfill leachate was not well treated by
the focaf sewage treatment plant (Simian, 1995). Metals passed through the
system, and the elevated concentrations and/or toxic nature of the leachate
upset the sewage treatment process, which is based on the action of microbes
that are very sensitive to changes in the character of the influent it was recommended that on-site treatment should be used to treat landfill leachate,
and that this should include separate processes for dealing with each of the
three main components of the leachate (heavy metals, dissolved solids, and
organic materials),

Landfill Gas: An Exploitable Resource

In addition to liquids, gases are also generated inside a landfill. Gas

management forms a key part of landfill design and operation. The
main decomposition process produces methane and carbon dioxide in roughly equal parts, as well as small amounts of benzene,
hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and other
trace gases. This process lasts for many decadeseven a century
or more. Typical concentrations of the main constituents of landfill gas are shown in Table 7.3.
The methane (effectively natural gas, CHJ is flammable and is
both a danger and a blessing. Methane, when mixed in appropriate
concentrations with oxygen from the air, is explosive and can be a

Table 7.3. Typical constituents of landfill gas (Tchobanoglous

et al., 1993).
Compound
Methane
Carbon dioxide
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Sulfides, disulfides, mercaptans, etc.
Ammonia
Hydrogen
Carbon monoxide
Trace gases

Percent (dry volume)

45-60
40-60
25
0.1-1.0
01.0
0.1-1.0
0-0.2
00.2
0.01-0.6

111

112

THE WASTE CRISIS

serious hazard to structures on and near the landfill. On the other

hand, the methane can be collected and burned in a controlled fashion to produce useful energy.
The carbon dioxide component of landfill gas is water soluble
and increases the corrosivenessthat is, the acidityof the leachate
inside the landfill. This in turn leads to enhanced leaching of contaminants such as heavy metals from the garbage.
Hydrogen sulphide and mercaptans have particularly bad odors,
which can be a serious nuisance to nearby residents. Many landfills have established gas collection systems, primarily to eliminate
these obnoxious odors.
Improvements in detection instrumentation have allowed better
understanding of the trace compounds in landfill gas, and the results indicate that many of these are harmful (Brosseau and Heitz,
1994). A total of 116 organic compounds, many of which are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), were found in landfill gas studied
at 66 landfills in California (Tchobanoglous et al., 1993; see Table
7.4). The occurrence of VOCs can be related to the age of the landfill:
older landfills that accepted industrial and commercial wastes contain higher concentrations, and newer landfills in which the disposal
of hazardous wastes is not permitted contain much lower levels.
Many of these gases are toxic; vinyl chloride and benzene, for
example, are carcinogenic. The toxicity of landfill gases has generally not been addressed in the past, and only a few jurisdictions,
such as California, have introduced regulations governing the emission of landfill gases. The situation is now changing as the health
hazard of these gases is becoming recognized. The U.S. EPA has
determined that non-methane organic compounds emitted by landfills contribute to the depletion of atmospheric ozone, and has proposed that landfills over a certain size must install systems that collect and destroy these gases. In 1993, the EPA made it mandatory that
soil gases at the perimeters of landfills be monitored quarterly.

How Do Landfill and Waste Incinerator Emissions Stadt Up?

Concerns about landfills have generally been directed to potential groundwater contamination. Only recently has the issue of gaseous emissions been
raised, fones (1994) compared health and some environmental risks associated with air emissions of contaminants such asvinyi chloride, benzene, nitrogen oxides, and dioxirts from iandfils and incinerators of equal capacity.

LANDFILLS

How Do Landfill and Waste Incinerator Emissions Stack Up? (continued)

The results indicate that the health impacts are greater for emissions from
landfills than from waste-to-energy incinerators, even when the landfills are
equipped with gas control systems. These results are the direct opposite of
both the public's perception and the focus of regulatory attention. They suggest that regulations and safety assessments should be applied to emissions
from landfills similar to those for incinerators. More stringent emission standards for landfills will undoubtedly be set in the future.

Because it is in gaseous form, landfill gas is very mobile and can

migrate readily, particularly if an impermeable cover prevents it
from venting directly into the atmosphere. It has been known to
travel through the soil as far as 1800 meters from a landfill, with
the direction of travel controlled by local geological conditions. The
gas can be trapped or redirected by impermeable layers such as clay
and frozen ground.
Landfill gas can be collected to prevent fires or explosions caused
by methane, to prevent obnoxious odors, or to extract methane as a
Table 7.4. Typical trace constituents in landfill gas (Tchobanoglous
et al., 1993); values in parts per billion, by volume.
Compound
Acetone
Benzene
Chlorobenzene
Chloroform
1 ,1-Dichloroethane
Dichloromethane
1 ,1-Dichloroethene
Diethylene chloride
trans-l,2-Dichloroethane
Ethylene dichloride
Ethyl henzene
Methyl ethyl ketone
1,1, 1-Trichloroethane
Trichloroethylene
Toluene
1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane
Tetrachloroethylene
Vinyl chloride
Styrenes
Vinyl acetate
Xylenes

Minimum
0
932
0
0
0

1,150
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8,125
0
260
1,150
0
0
0

Mean
6,840
2,060
82
245
2,800
25,700
130
2,840
36
59
7,330
3,090
615
2,080
34,900
246
5,240
3,510
1,520
5,660
2,650

Maximum
240,000
39,000
1,640
12,000
36,000
620,000
4,000
20,000
850
2,100
87,500
130,000
14,500
32,000
280,000
16,000
180,000
32,000
87,000
240,000
38,000

113

114

THE WASTE CRISIS

useful energy source. Measuring the concentration and pressure of

methane and plotting the data on a map will help in determining
migration patterns and planning gas extraction wells. Gas can be
extracted from a landfill in a number of ways. Where off-site development is relatively close to the landfill, perimeter trenches may
be dug to ensure that gases do not migrate laterally away from the
site. These trenches can be designed either to act as interceptors to
attract and collect gas (in which case they would contain gravel and
perforated tubing), or as impermeable barriers to prevent gas from
leaving the landfill site (in which case they would be filled with
relatively impermeable materials such as bentonite, clay, or concrete). Alternatatively, a series of vertical wells might be installed
in the landfill or along its periphery. These wells can vent directly
to the atmosphere, or they can be connected together and ducted to
a stack where the gas is burned (or flared) or to an energy generation station. Because of problems with odors, direct venting of landfill gas is seldom allowed.

Vinyl Chloride
Vinyl chloride (C2H3Cl) is a gas released in trace quantities from landfills.
Colorless and with a mild, sweet odor, it is highly flammable and explosive,
releasing hydrogen chloride gas on burning. It is used in the production of
poiyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics and the solvent trichioroethane. There are
no known natural sources.
Viny! chloride is a serious human health risk, known to cause cancer of the
liver, brain, and central nervous system. It Is thought to be produced if? landfills
by the anaerobic decomposition of several chiorinated solvents.
In 1995, government studies at Keele Valley landfill near Toronto, Ontario,
found high levels of vinyl chloride in the air, even though the landfill has an
extensive system of buried pipes to collect gases for incineration (Anonymous,
1995), One half-hour air sample measured 2,9 micrograms of vinyl chloride
per cubic meter, which is Just under the 3.0 microgram level set for safe exposure. The gas collection pipes carried vinyl chloride at concentrations of
216 micrograms per cybtc meter. The study shows that even modern landfiils leak toxic gases into the atmosphere, despite sophisticated gas collection systems; this raises concerns about older and closed landfills, where gases
are simply vented.

LANDFILLS

Another approach is to place a series of interconnected perforated

pipes, typically of PVC, under the impermeable cover as landfill cells
are closed to capture the landfill gas and direct it to collection points.
Gas can be withdrawn from the landfill by applying a vacuum to the
pipes. However, gas extraction should not be so excessive that air (i.e.,
oxygen) is drawn into the landfill. For this reason, extraction wells
are generally equipped with gas sampling ports and flow control
valves so that gas flow rates from each well can be properly controlled.
Landfill gas can be flared continuously, or it can be burned in a
facility where thermal energy is recovered. Because of concerns over
air quality, modern flaring facilities are designed to rigorous standards to ensure effective destruction of methane, VOCs, and other
hazardous compounds. Figure 7.10 shows typical stacks for flaring
landfill gas.
Methane production rates of 2.5 to 3.7 liters per kilogram have
been reported for refuse that has been in place for a few years
(Emcon, 1980). The use of methane as an energy source maximizes
the extraction of useful resources from landfills and is in keeping
with the principle of sustainable development. The natural gas
shortage of the 1970s spurred research and development of alternate sources of energy, and one was methane gas from municipal
landfills. The energy output from any single landfill is not very large,

7.10 Stacks for flaring landfill gas at Keele Valley landfill, Toronto,
Ontario.

115

116

THE WASTE CRISIS

but the source will continue to generate methane for 30 to 60 years

or more, and the capital investment required to construct the collection and associated systems is relatively small. Energy from the
methane can be utilized in three ways:
It can be incinerated to generate electricity.
It can be cleaned and upgraded to a product known as "highBTU gas" and sold to natural gas companies, which put it
into their pipelines for distribution to their customers. For
this option to be viable, it is necessary that a gas pipeline
pass near the landfill.
It can be sold to a nearby industry or commercial user as
heating or process fuel. In this case, the gas needs to be
purified, including water separation and removal of trace
contaminants and particulates, but it need not be treated as
much as high-BTU gas. Because of the expense of constructing pipelines, the consumers must be located close to the
landfill.
The gas can be used as a heat source for local space heating.
The first high-BTU project to become operational in North America
was the Palos Verdes landfill in California, which began delivering gas in 1975 (White, 1990). In recent years it has been more economical to use methane to generate electricity than to produce
high-BTU gas. In 1991, the Brock West municipal landfill near
Toronto became the first landfill in Canada to generate electricity
from landfill gas. At the time, its 23-megawatt electrical generating plant was the second largest of its kind in North America. At
the nearby Keele Valley landfill, a 30-megawatt electrical generating plant began operation at the end of 1995.
Of the 64 landfill gas recovery projects listed in a Resource Recovery Activities report compiled in 1989, forty-five used the gas
to generate electricity and eight produced high-BTU gas; among the
latter was the Fresh Kills landfill in New York City (White, 1990).
It is estimated that in 1998 there were more than 100 landfills in
the United States that tap their methane, resulting in approximately
200 million cubic meters of fuel per year.
Because of the large number of landfills, their cumulative potential as sources of energy is relatively large. For example, if every
landfill in North America were to generate electricity from methane, as much as 30,000 megawatts of energy could be produced.
This would replace an enormous amount of coal, oil, natural gas,
and uranium that is currently being used in electrical plants and
would make a substantial contribution to conservation, reducing

LANDFILLS

global warming, and preserving nonrenewable resources for future

generations.
The burning of methane for energy also has other environmental benefits. Research indicates that landfills contribute between
30 and 70 million tonnes of methane per year to the atmosphere,
which represents between 6% and 18% of the total methane released worldwide (Environment, 1987). Because methane is approximately 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping
the sun's infrared radiation, this represents a significant contribution to long-term global warming.
To design gas extraction systems or to assess the economic viability of a methane energy system, it is necessary to know the gas
quantities that will be released and how this will change over time.
Barlaz and Ham (1993) calculated from theoretical considerations
that one kilogram of dry waste will generate about 262 liters of
methane. Their calculation assumed that cellulose and hemicellulose, the main sources of methane, constitute 51% and 12% of
refuse, respectively.
Landfill gas production is a transient phenomenon that decreases
with time. A number of mathematical expressions have been developed to estimate gas generation as a function of time. These generally take an exponential form:

where C(t) and C(0) are the amounts of methane produced at times
t and initially (t = 0), respectively, and k is a decay constant. If sitespecific data are not available, then a value for k of 0.05 per year
can be used (EPA, 1996). This decay is analogous to radioactive
decay; for k = 0.05, the half-life (the time in which the amount of
methane generation decreases by 50%) is about 14 years.

Environmental Monitoring

Just as a doctor must monitor a medical patient regularly for pulse

rate, temperature, and blood pressure, so technicians must closely
observe the vital signs of a landfill. This shows the changes that are
taking place inside the landfill, providing information that will help
to protect the environment. Generally, the following parameters are
monitored: groundwater, surface water, landfill gas, atmospheric
gas, and settlement.

117

118

THE WASTE CRISIS

7.11

Details of a typical groundwater monitoring well.

Water Monitoring

Groundwater depth, flow direction, quantity, and quality can be

determined by installing a network of monitoring wells (see Figure
7.11) and sampling them at regular intervals. A typical groundwater
monitoring network is shown in Figure 7.12. A modern landfill may
have from 20 to more than 100 monitoring wells around it, depending on the complexity of its geology. A key part of the monitoring
program is to establish background, or baseline, water quality information, so that any perturbations caused by landfill leachate can
be recognized. The direction of the groundwater flow should be
determined and any nearby homes, farms, and water wells that
might be affected by leachate should be identified. Because the
chloride ion is common in leachate (but not in groundwater) and
because it can be detected relatively easily, it has proven to be an
excellent tracer of leachate in groundwater.
Surface waters, such as nearby streams or ponds, are monitored
periodically by direct sampling.

LANDFILLS

7.12 Typical monitoring well network, shown in cross-section

Landfill Gas Monitoring

This keeps track of the movement and location of landfill gas. Probes
are placed below the landfill cover to measure gas pressure, temperature, and composition. In addition, probes are placed around
the site to detect any gas escaping from the site.
Atmospheric Gas Monitoring

Most modern landfills monitor the quality of air at a number of points

around the perimeter of the property. This is of greater importance
at landfills that do not collect and burn landfill gas. Most gas sampling devices are either grab or active samplers. Grab samples are
collected using a collection bag made of an appropriate synthetic
material, an evacuated flask, or a gas syringe. An active sampler collects and analyzes a continuous stream of air. As with groundwater
and surface water, it is important to determine the background, or
ambient, air quality as a basis for comparison.
Settlement

It has become standard practice to run a survey-control benchmark

elevation circuit on and around landfills to provide references for
measuring settlement. Plates set in fill with pipes extending to the
surface, or concrete or stone monuments 15 centimeters square and
one meter long, make good survey markers. Standard engineering
surveying instruments are used, and surveys are run periodically,
usually at monthly or quarterly intervals.

119

120

THE WASTE CRISIS

Closure and Post-Closure Care

To ensure that landfills will be maintained after they have been

closed, most jurisdictions have passed regulations requiring owners of landfills to prepare a detailed post-closure plan and to establish a post-closure fund. Most post-closure programs are a few decades in duration.
The most important elements of a post-closure plan include:
Cover and landscape design.
Control of landfill gases. This may include continued gas
collection after closure.
Environmental monitoring systems including groundwater
and air quality.
Collection and treatment of leachate.
Ongoing inspections and maintenance.
Because most landfills protrude well above the surrounding landscape, they are exposed to erosion by wind, rain, and snow. These
forces, aided by freeze/thaw cycles, animal burrowing, and landfill settlement, will eventuallyin decades or centuriescompromise the integrity of the cover system and allow water to enter.
Regulatory agencies and other experts agree that even the best liner
and leachate systems will ultimately fail as a result of natural deterioration (Lee & Jones, 1991). At best, such systems only postpone
groundwater pollution. To avoid this problem, landfills will require
monitoring and ongoing maintenance for centuries to come. This
places a responsibility and burden on future generations. Because
landfill heights have grown enormously in recent years, it is often
impractical to excavate through tens of meters of landfill to make
repairs, even when leaks are discovered.

innovative Technologies in Remediating Old Landfitls

A mafor environmental problem is presented by the tens of thousands of old,
dosed landf iils that were constructed without liners and ieachate collections
systems. One innovative approach to this problem was demonstrated at
Livingstone County landfill near fontiac, Illinois (Yach, 1996),
The landfill began operation in 1978 and now occupies 20 hectares (SO acres),
reaching a height of 25 meters, the height of an eight-story building, A segment of about 13 hectares (32 acres) of the site was constructed with dual

LANDFILLS

Innovative Technologies fit itemecfiatfeg OW landfills (continued)

composite liners and a leachate collection system, which was designed to
maintain the depth of ieachate above the lifter at 30 centimeters or less. Although the older part of the landfill (about ? hectares, 18 acres) has a finer,
it did not have a ieachate collection system, The depth of the leachate in this
section of the landfill ranged from 1 to 12 meters,
Instead of using a grid of vertical wells, engineers decided to install a single
210-meter horizontal well that would be able to drain a much larger portion
of the landfill and would require less pumping energyan approach that had
never been attempted before in North America. The bore would start at the
east end of the old site and angle upward at the slight grade of 035%, so
that leachate woyld flow back to the east side, where it would be colected
and piped to a storage tank, with periodic removal to the local sewage treatment plant
The project presented several technical difficulties. First, the landfill was very
heterogeneous and full of many different kinds of waste including concrete,
steel, and unknown materials. Second, the horizontal hole was to he drifted
directly above and as close as possible to the liner so that the maximum
amount of ieachate would be collected; accurate navigational control was
vital since the drill head myst not deviate downward and puncture the liner,
A three-dimensionai sensor package was used to navigate the drill head, transmitting position and orientation data every three seconds down the drii! piping. The system worked well, and the drill hole emerged only 30 centimeters
higher than planned, A 20-cm hole was bored and then a 10-cm perforated
HDPE pipe was pulled into place,
Instead of the usual bentonite day, which would plug the perforations in the
leachate collection pipe, a special driilimj fluid was used that had sufficient
gel strength to carry out drill cuttings and support the hole, yet that would
decompose over time so as not to impair leachate collection.

Human intrusion is a significant future risk, because humans are

by nature curious. It is inconceivable that a large mound will not
appeal to the exploratory instincts of future generations. Furthermore, landfills are located in close proximity to urban centers, and
as communities grow and expand there will be an increasing pressure to build on closed landfills. Thus, landfills will require longterm guardianship. The prevention of future intrusion into landfills
is currently not addressed in the regulations or in landfill design.

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Landfilling of garbage is underpriced. Landfill cost estimages do

not include the future despoliation of the environment or the care
and maintenance that must be performed by future generations.

Future Developments

What will influence the future evolution of landfills? First and foremost are the ongoing programs by all levels of government to divert waste from landfills through waste reduction at source and
recycling. Increased emphasis is being placed on blue-box programs
and composting of yard and other organic materials. These programs
are critically important in finding a solution to the garbage crisis.
As the volume of waste requiring disposal diminishes, this process should have a major impact on how landfills are designed and
operated. Since less waste will be disposed, it should be possible
to design higher-quality and more durable landfills, even though
they are more costly.
In addition, the organic content of waste may decrease because of
the diversion of paper and plastics by blue-box programs, composting
of yard wastes, and, in particular, incineration. A reduction in organic
content would influence the decomposition processes that occur and
could lead to smaller methane yields as well as slower rates of decomposition. For example, the waste would tend to be more compact and denser, affecting the ways liners, gas collection systems, and
other engineering components of the landfill are designed.
Another major trend is the evolving understanding and control
of the biological decomposition processes inside landfills. Experiments are being done in collecting leachate and recirculating it
through the waste in a controlled manner. The intention is to operate landfills as controlled bioreactors, much as modern sewage treatment plants actively promote biological and chemical action to
break down liquid wastes. Chemicals may be added to the leachate
recirculation system to promote more complete degradation.
This approach also has promise for managing inorganic compounds. For example, acidic compounds naturally produced in
landfills leach out heavy metals. By controlling the process, sulfate
compounds can be reduced to sulfides which precipitate heavy
metals. If leachate is appropriately treated and recirculated, heavy
metal precipitates could be bound up in the bulk of inactive landfill material. Alternatively, they could be removed by appropriate
treatment techniques before the leachate is returned into the land-

LANDFILLS

fill. Although such methods show promise, they are still in the
developmental stage.
There is also steady improvement in the quality of the materials
used in landfill construction, such as better liners and better methods for sealing their seams.
In summary, the disposal of our society's wastes has been and
continues to be tied inextricably to the basic landfill. The thousands
of landfills that dot the country symbolize our profligate, wasteful,
throw-away, over-packaged, and over-marketed consumer lifestyle.
Although many engineered bells and whistles are now commonplaceliners, impermeable covers, and leachate and gas collection
systemsthe basic concept of disposing of waste in near-surface
dumps close to urban centers has remained largely unchanged for
centuries. With population growth and increasing environmental
concern, landfills will continue to evolve. In the coming years there
will be a trend toward decreasing the amount of waste going to landfill, which in turn will lead to a change in the composition of the
waste emplaced. Further improvements are expected in the design
of engineered barriers and systems.

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. Who do you consider most qualified for assigning weighting and suitability ratings for landfill site selection criteria? Should people who are not professionals be involved
in the process? Why?
2. The following criteria have been developed for the siting
process for a landfill in your area. What weights would you
give each one (5 is maximum)? Give your reasons, (a) existing land use and zoning, (b) distance to access roads, (c) noise
impact on nearby residential areas, (d) depth to groundwater
table, (e) visual impact, (f) distance to waste source area.
3. Calculate the area needed per year and for a 30-year lifetime for a new landfill for a region with 400,000 inhabitants that generates 2 kg/day/person of solid waste. Don't
forget the buffer, storage, and administration areas, which
will require 25% to 35% of the total area.
4. Calculate the amount of daily cover soil required for the
following hypothetical landfill. Also, calculate the wasteto-soil ratio. 70 tonnes of waste are received each day; each
lift is 3 m high; cell width is 5 m; the slope of the working
face is 1:3; compaction is to 350, 475, and 600 kg/m3; daily

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THE WASTE CRISIS

cover is 15 cm. Hint: You need to consider a 3-dimensionsal

trapezoidal volumei.e., surface area to receive soil cover
is top, front, and side.
5. What is the breakthrough time for leachate to penetrate a
1.3 meter clay layer (d) if porosity (por) is 0.2, coefficient
of permeability (K) is 10~7 cm/s, and hydraulic head (h) is
2 m? Use the formula:
Time = (dz*POI)/K*(d+h).
6. Locate a closed landfill in your area. What is being done to
monitor it, and what measures have been instituted to ensure that gases and leachate do not harm the nearby environment? How long must these measures stay in place?
7. A landfill receives municipal waste at the rate of 2,000
tonnes per day for 20 years. Using the data presented in this
chapter, what is the theoretical maximum amount of methane that will be generated? What is the initial gas generation rate, once the methanogenic stage begins?
Suggested Reading
Henry, J. G. 1989. Solid Wastes. In Environmental Science and Engineering, J. G. Henry and G. W. Heinke (eds.). Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
McBean, E. A., F. A. Rovers, and G. J. Farquhar. 1995. Solid Waste
Landfill Engineering and Design. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: PrenticeHall.
Ministry of Environment and Energy. 1993. Guidance Manual for Landfill Sites Receiving Municipal Wastes. FIBS 2741. Ottawa.
Murphy, Pamela. 1993. The Garbage Primer: A Handbook for Citizens.
New York: League of Women Voters Education Fund, Lyons &
Burford.
Rathje, W. L., and L. Psihoyos. 1991. Once and Future Landfills. National Geographic, May, pp. 116-134.
Rathje, W. L., and C. Murphy. 1992. Rubbish! The Archaeology of
Garbage. New York: Harper Collins.

8
ARE THERE BETTER
DISPOSAL METHODS?

IVIost of the solid waste generated by society ultimately winds up

in near-surface landfills. Let us put our thinking caps firmly on,
place our prejudices aside, and explore what other methods might
be used to dispose of waste. We should seek, in particular, the approaches that best fulfill the three basic principles described in
chapter 2. That is, we should strive to find disposal methods that
are in accord with sustainable development.

Existing and Abandoned Mines: The Hole Is Already There

Existing and abandoned pits, quarries, and mines are attractive for
waste disposal because a hole to contain the wastes has already been
excavated. Such abandoned areas, when left unreclaimed, cannot
be used for agriculture or other beneficial uses. Thus, they generally do not have significant market value and can often be obtained
relatively cheaply. For these reasons, pits and quarries have been
extensively used for landfills. Operating and abandoned mines, on
which this section focuses, are somewhat similar to pits and quarries, though usually larger.
Abandoned mines hold promise as disposal facilities because
they are resource areas that have been depleted and thus have little
future value. There are two basic types of mine: the open pit mine,
which is effectively a large pit or hole in the ground; and the underground mine, where the mined-out openings are deep underground
and there is no surface expression except for the shafts used to gain
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THE WASTE CRISIS

subsurface access. Because underground mines occupy minimal

surface land, their use for waste disposal would be in accordance
with the sustainable development principles that were advocated in
chapter 2. Several European countries, with higher population densities and much smaller land mass than in North America, have long
used abandoned underground mines to dispose of their rubbish.
The major advantage of placing wastes deep in underground
mines is that it is inherently safer than placing the wastes in a surface facility. The amount of groundwater and its flow rate decrease
with depth; this fact, combined with the long transport paths back
to the biosphere, minimizes the possibility that contaminants will
be carried by groundwater to the surface, where they could damage the environment. The waste is contained deeper and more
securely.
Furthermore, an underground waste facility is removed from the
forces of erosion and does not require ongoing maintenance. It is
also out of sight and not as attractive or obvious a target for intrusion as a surface landfill. For these reasons, an underground mine
will not place as great a burden on future generations as a surface
landfill.
Abandoned open pit mines also have some advantageous features, and a number of proposals have recently been put forth for
their use as municipal disposal sites. One such case history is described in chapter 11, with an aerial view of an abandoned open
pit mine shown in Figure 11.8. Open pit mines are particularly despoiled pieces of land that not only are scars on the landscape but
also pose safety hazards. They can pose environmental threats as
well: for example, sulphur-containing ores and tailings can generate acid water in the bottom of the abandoned pit, which can contaminate nearby water bodies. Converting an abandoned open pit
mine into a landfill can alleviate some of these problems, namely,
the area will be more attractive visually and less acid water will be
generated because the landfill will have water-tight bottom liners.
Nonetheless, there are also potential drawbacks to the use of
mines for waste disposal. It must be borne in mind that the primary
purpose of a mine is resource recovery, not waste disposal. This
means that ore extraction is maximized while the structural stability of the mine is kept at a minimum. In many cases, underground
support structures such as pillars are removed during the final stages
of operation. As a result, the underground openings and shafts become unstable and may collapse. The same is true of open pit mines,
where slopes are designed as steep as possible to maximize ore

ARE THERE BETTER DISPOSAL METHODS?

production. In other words, abandoned mines have been designed

to stay open just long enough to extract their mineral contentnot
for an additional lifespan of 20 or 30 years for waste disposal.
Another potential shortcoming is that mines are often situated
in areas of faulting and/or folding of the rocks which in the geologic past have formed conduits and traps for the mineralization that
is being exploited. Thus, mine areas are often geologically complex
and contain many faults, which can be excellent conduits for groundwater flow. In such instances, an abandoned mine might need additional engineered barriers to control contaminant migration. The
complexity of the geologic setting would also make it difficult to
develop the predictive computer models of groundwater flow and
contaminant transport that may be required for licensing.
A further potential detriment of using abandoned mines is the
possibility that the remaining low-grade ore (and possibly the tailings) may at some future time become economical to mine because
of price changes and/or new technologies. In such a case, the use
of the site for waste disposal would prevent or cause difficulties to
future miners in pursuit of this resource.
For these reasons, not all abandoned mines are suitable for waste
disposal. A detailed, site-specific technical assessment of each mine
is necessary.
Although very few abandoned mines have been used for municipal waste disposal in North America, both underground and open
pit mines have been used for disposal of another wastemine tailings, the residual rock remaining after the mining and milling process. At the Elliott Lake uranium mines in Ontario, tailings have
been placed underground in a cement-slurry matrix. The slurry
allows the large volumes of material to be transported using pipelines. This is an important consideration for underground facilities
because the wastes must be transported through narrow shafts and
tunnels. Underground disposal is more environmentally responsible
than placing the tailings in surface piles. In addition, the tailings,
when mixed with cement, help to stabilize and support the mined
openings, allowing ore to be extracted from the remaining pillars and
support columns, which would otherwise not have been mineable.
In Germany, mines have been used for disposal of radioactive
wastes. Between 1967 and 1976 about 62,000 containers of lowlevel radioactive waste were deposited in the Asse mine, an abandoned salt mine that had been worked for almost a hundred years
(Tammemagi & Thompson, 1990). Salt mines have the unique characteristic that the salt is a plastic material; that is, it slowly creeps

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THE WASTE CRISIS

over time so that the mined openings slowly squeeze shut, creating
a seal around any emplaced wastes. The very existence of such salt
deposits, which formed hundreds of millions of years ago, attests
to the dry nature of the surrounding sedimentary layers, because
salt is water-soluble and would long ago have dissolved if any
groundwater had been present.

Hazardous Wastes Go Deep Down

Since 1972, an old sait mine near Heringers, Germany, has been used by Kail
ynd Safe AG to store more than 2 million dryms of Solid hazardous waste.
The disposal Is at a depth of 700 meters IR alt formations that have been
stable for 250 million years and, presymsbiy* will remain so for eons to come.
Deep, dry, and geologically stable, th facility is considered to be one of the
world's safest (Boralko, 19S5).

The disused Konrad iron ore mine in Lower Saxony, Germany,

with workings between 800 and 1300 meters in depth, is currently
being used for radioactive waste disposal (Tammemagi & Thompson, 1990). The mine, which is very dry owing to about 800 to 1,000
meters of overlying, predominantly clay rocks, has the capacity to
receive approximately one million cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste over its 40-year lifespan. Figure 8.1 shows a schematic
cross-section of the Konrad mine.
Although this discussion has emphasized using abandoned mines,
other options are also available. In underground mines, it may be
possible to combine ore extraction operations with simultaneous
waste emplacement. The latter would take place in mined-out
sections of the mine and may require a dedicated shaft. This combined mode of operation has certain advantages for waste emplacement in that the infrastructure is already in place. If the waste disposal facility includes an incinerator, it may be possible to dispose
of incinerator ash in a cement slurry, much as tailings have been
placed underground. This approach may be beneficial to the mining operation by helping to stabilize underground openings that
might otherwise collapse.
Another option would be to construct an underground facility
specifically for solid waste. Although this has not been done to
date in North America because of economic considerations, it may
become feasible in the future as waste quantities decrease. This

ARE THERE BETTER DISPOSAL METHODS?

8.1 Cross-section of the Konrad Mine, Germany.

approach has the advantage that the waste disposal mine could
be sited in a location and geologic setting that maximize safety.
This concept has been applied to low-level radioactive wastes in
Sweden; a case history is described in chapter 11. Sweden also
uses subsurface disposal for hazardous wastes, first encapsulating them in concrete and then placing them in underground vaults
(Miller, 1997).
Open pit mines have also been used for disposal of mine tailings.
This is similar to the use of pits and quarries for municipal landfills. An innovative approach has been developed at the Rabbit Lake
uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan in Canada (Clark, 1989b).
Their in-pit disposal system was designed to take advantage of the
fact that the pit walls are relatively permeable to groundwater, (as
a result of blasting), compared to the underlying ground. A system
was designed in which the groundwater is induced to flow through
the permeable walls and engineered envelope rather than through
the compacted and relatively impervious consolidated tailings. This
disposal system is known as the "pervious-surround" or "flowaround" system.
The Rabbit Lake system promoted the consolidation of tailings
during placement by draining water from the tailings. The water was
collected by a tunnel from the bottom of the pit which leads to a
sump pump station and a shaft to the surface. The permeability of
the pit walls was enhanced by lining the walls with a permeable
sand and rock layer. Figure 8.2 shows a schematic cross-section of
the flow-around disposal system. When the placement of tailings

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THE WASTE CRISIS

8.2 Schematic view of a "flow-around" waste disposal system.

is complete and the monitoring of the discharge from the pump station shows satisfactory results, the pumps will be removed, and the
contrasting permeabilities of the tailings and the surrounding wall
and envelope will establish a groundwater flow pattern that will
entirely bypass the tailings.
Landfill Mining: "Play It Again, Sam"

Landfill mining, also known as landfill reclamation, is a recently

developed method for extending the lifespan of old dumps. Landfill mining is simply the excavation of an existing landfill and the
removal from it of various materials for the purpose of recovering, reusing, or recycling them. Items that can be usefully removed
include appliances (known as "white goods"), compostable materials, and soil cover. Landfill mining has the greatest impact on reducing waste if it is operated in conjunction with a waste incinerator;
that is, the excavated garbage is used as fuel for a waste-to-energy
incinerator.
The materials that are to be replaced in the landfill can be
shredded and compacted to minimize their porosity and decrease
the total space required. As well as freeing up valuable landfill
space, the reclamation process allows environmental upgrades to
be implemented.

ARE THERE BETTER DISPOSAL METHODS?

Landfill mining was pioneered in 1988 in Collier County, Florida.

The objectives of the project were to reduce the potential for groundwater contamination, recover and reuse cover material, and reclaim
landfill capacity. As a result of the success of the project, Collier
County has included landfill mining as an integral part of its waste
management strategy.
Landfill mining is also being successfully practiced in southern
Pennsylvania at the Frey Farm Landfill, which services Lancaster
County, consisting of 60 communities with a population of 422,000
(Flosdorf, 1993). The landfill was opened in 1989 and occupies 62
hectares (153 acres), of which 39 hectares (96 acres) is occupied by
seven disposal cells and the rest is buffer area. The total capacity of
the landfill is 7 million cubic meters. The landfill has a double liner,
of which the bottom, or secondary, liner is made of a composite
system of clay and a 1.5 mm (60-mil) high-density polyethylene
(HDPE) liner. The top or primary liner is also a composite section,
with 1.5 mm (60-mil) HDPE and bentonite subliner. Above the primary and secondary liner systems are highly permeable leachate
collection zones. The primary system empties into a pump station
which transports the leachate to an on-site leachate treatment plant,
while the secondary system empties into a manhole used to detect
and monitor any leakage in the system. It was originally estimated
that the landfill would be filled to capacity in 9 years, even with an
aggressive recycling program. The landfill's closure plan calls for
the development of a natural and wildlife reserve area including a
hiking trail, which is compatible with the surrounding farmland and
woodland.
An important goal of the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority was to protect farmland, one of the county's major
resources, by extending the life of the existing landfill as much as
possible. Therefore, an electricity-generating incinerator with a
capacity to receive 1,100 tonnes of waste per day was constructed
and began operation in 1991. It produces approximately 35 megawatts of electricity. This incinerator is described in chapter 11.
Landfill mining began about a year later with the following objectives:
To reclaim landfill space, thus extending the life of the landfill.
To increase energy production and efficiency at the wasteto-energy facility by increasing combustion capacity.
To recover valuable resources such as metal and landfill
cover material.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

The system evolved over the initial years. A significant improvement was the introduction of a trommel to screen out soil from the
waste. The trommel consists of a 2.1-meter diameter rotating drum
7.0 meters long. Excavated waste is fed into the trommel, and the
2.5-cm openings effectively separate soil from the refuse. A view
of the trommel in operation is seen in Figure 8.3. About one tonne
of cover material is recovered for every four tonnes of waste excavated. This results in a cleaner fuel with higher heating value, less
soil in the incineration ash, and more recovery of reusable landfill
cover material. The cover material is a useful resource because state
regulations require that an active landfill face must be covered with
at least 15 centimeters of soil at the end of each working day.
Fresh waste is mixed with reclaimed waste in a ratio of about 3
to 1. About 4% to 5% by weight of chipped tires and shredded wood
is added to the waste to improve the heating value. On average, about
2,200 tonnes of material are excavated from the landfill each week.
Of this, 68% is used as fuel for the waste-to-energy plant; 28% is
used as cover material; and only 4% is noncombustible and is returned to the landfill. Of the material sent to the incinerator, approximately 32% becomes ash, which is returned to the landfill.
Thus, 75% by weight of the waste removed from the landfill is reclaimed by the mining process.

8.3 Landfill mining at the Frey Farm landfill, Lancaster County,

Pennsylvania (courtesy of Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority).

ARE THERE BETTER DISPOSAL METHODS?

This is a very significant saving in landfill capacity and will

extend the lifetime of the facility fourfold. Without incineration or
mining, the landfill would have become full in 9 years, and a new
landfill would have been required by 1998. Now the landfill can
operate well into the next century providing an extra 20 to 30 years
of service. Over this period, Lancaster County will avoid building
an additional two or three landfills, thus saving about 120 to 160
hectares (300 to 400 acres) of its prime farmland.
Economic benefits include electricity sales from the waste-toenergy incinerator, the sale of recovered iron and other recyclable
materials, the recovered material for daily landfill cover, and
probably the most significant itemthe value of the reclaimed landfill volume. Cost analyses show that the operation is financially
successful.
With this cutting-edge approach to waste management combined
with a proactive recycling program, only 15% of the 365,000 tonnes
of garbage produced in the county each year winds up in the landfill. This is markedly better than the U.S. national average of about
60% and the Canadian average of about 70%. (The percentage of
municipal garbage going to landfill in the United States is less than
in Canada because incineration is used more widely; the contribution of recycling is about the same in both countries.)
Along with freeing valuable landfill space, environmental upgrades can be implemented during the reclamation process, such as
removing hazardous materials, installing synthetic or clay liners, and
installing leachate and/or methane collection systems. For example,
at the Trail Road Landfill, which serves the city of Ottawa, Ontario,
managers are considering mining older parts of the landfill where
liner systems were not originally installed. In addition to extending
the lifetime of the landfill, the mining operation would offer the opportunity to construct a proper liner and leachate collection system,
resulting in a landfill that is safer for the environment.
With the strong opposition to siting new landfills, landfill mining may become a valuable tool for extending the lifespans of existing landfills. The practice is now being successfully used at a small
but growing number of sites throughout North America.
But landfill mining holds even greater promise. Vigorous research
is being conducted to find safe and beneficial uses for incinerator
ash, such as road aggregate, construction blocks, underwater reefs
and seawalls, and more (Woods, 1991). Should this research lead
to viable, commercial, and safe markets for incinerator ash, then the
garbage that is being sent to the Frey Farm landfill could be reduced

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THE WASTE CRISIS

to less than 5% of the total produced in the county. Another landfill would not be needed in Lancaster County for more than 150
years!
We are beginning to see a glimmer of hope that there are solutions to monster landfills and their attendant environmental problems. The citizens and environment of Lancaster County would not
be the only ones to benefit from the advances pioneered there.

Ocean Dumping: "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"

Oceans today are not the infinite, self-cleansing resource they once
were. On the contrary, the rapid growth of the world's population
to 6 billion people has exposed just how finite the oceans are.
Oceans are the ultimate sink for much of the waste humans produce.
The world's oceans receive agricultural and urban runoff from rivers,
atmospheric fallout, garbage and untreated sewage from ships, and
accidental (and occasionally intentional) oil spills from tankers and
drilling platforms. In addition, industrial wastes, sludge from sewage treatment plants, and materials dredged from the bottoms of
rivers and harbors are often dumped in the oceans. There are many
signs that the oceans are under considerable stress.
The Baltic Sea, for example, is surrounded by 70 million people
and their industrial effluent. The sea has been overloaded with
pesticides, toxic industrial wastes, and excessive nutrients in the
form of nitrogen and phosphorus from municipal sewage and agricultural fertilizers. It is estimated that the Baltic receives approximately 2.3 million cubic meters per day of domestic sewage, of
which 40% is untreated (Clark, 1989a). Many of its beaches are
closed to swimming, and its deeper layers have become so depleted
of oxygen that some areas are devoid of life. Eutrophicationalgae
blooms and other plant growth that disturb the normal gas balance
has become a significant problem owing to the large amounts of
nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from industry and agriculture. In
the 1960s, high concentrations of mercury occurred in fish along
coastal areas; commercial fishing was banned in Sweden where the
fish contained more than 1 ppm of mercury. The cause was found
to be mercurial pesticides, primarily from pulp and paper companies. Once the source was discovered, actions were taken to reduce
the use of such pesticides. Despite a ban on the use of PCBs, there
are still land-based inputs into the Baltic, and the contamination of
fish and guillemot (a seabird) eggs has not shown reduction since

ARE THERE BETTER DISPOSAL METHODS?

1974 (Clark, 1989a). PCB concentrations in fish are unduly high;

the main threat is to fish-eating birds and mammals such as birds
of prey and seals.
Many other seas, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, the Arctic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, and the North Sea, are
also seriously imperiled by pollution.
A symbol of how our garbage is despoiling nature is provided
by the plastic bottles and other debris that have been reported on
the beaches of uninhabited atolls in the South Pacific and floating
far out to sea. Small pellets (3-4 mm in diameter) of polyethylene,
polypropylene, and sometimes polystyrene are widespread in the
oceans. They have been reported since the early 1960s, mostly near
shipping lanes or centers of industry but also in the South Atlantic
and South Pacific, thousands of kilometers away from any industrial source. Larger plastic debris occurs in abundance in the oceans,
and it is estimated that much of it arises from ships throwing garbage overboard (Clark, 1989a). Plastics are not biodegradable and
have a long life in the sea.
Oceans are a natural target for waste disposal primarily because
of their seemingly endless expanse. People imagine that there is
an almost limitless dilution available which should negate the
harmful effects of any contaminants. The remoteness of the oceans
is also a contributing factor: no human bystanders can witness
dumping, and any wastes that are dumped are "out of sight and
out of mind." In addition, the open seas and oceans are international territory, and although international treaties provide some
regulatory protection, there are few effective means of enforcing
these guidelines. Thus, there is a natural tendency for the unscrupulous to bend the rules.

"The very survivai of the human species depends upon the maintenance of
an ocean clean and alive, spreading all around the world. The ocean is owr
planet's fife belt."
The late marine bioiogist and explorer Jacques
Cousteau

Before the turn of the twentieth century, much of New York's

solid waste was simply dumped at sea. This proved a cheap and
convenient solution until beachfront communities began to protest
against the garbage washing ashore. This practice was discontinued
in about 1900 (Walsh, 1991).

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Dumping garbage from ships and barges, however, continues to

be a standard practice of many countries throughout the world. In
addition, oil spills and petroleum contamination from oil tankers,
seabed oil-drilling projects, and the large amount of marine traffic
has polluted coastal areas and large tracts of the ocean. The Soviet
Union used the Arctic Ocean for dumping of radioactive wastes,
including nuclear reactors from their nuclear-powered fleet. Immeasurable damage has been done to marine life.
The practice of dumping the sludge from sewage treatment plants
at sea has continued for many decades. In 1977, the U.S. Ocean
Dumping Act was amended to ban the dumping of sewage sludge
by the year 1981. New York City, having no alternative land sites
for its sludge, fought the act and was able to continue for several
years dumping approximately 6 million tons of sludge into an area
185 kilometers offshore. Adverse effects on marine life prompted
the U.S. Congress to pass the Ocean Dumping Act of 1988, which
became effective in 1991 and prohibited the ocean dumping of any
wastes from U.S. sources.
An innovative scheme to avoid the difficulties of the NIMBY
syndrome has been the use of ships as floating incinerators (Boraiko,
1985). Several European nations burn wastes in incinerators on
ships, with the subsequent ash being dumped at sea. Exhaust gases
are not scrubbed; hydrochloric acid, the main product, is rapidly
absorbed by the sea, which has an enormous buffering capacity. By
avoiding expensive scrubber systems, incinerator ships can dispose
of waste significantly more cheaply than land-based incinerators.
During the 1980s, about 100,000 tonnes per year of chlorinated
waste, two-thirds of it from Germany and the rest from other European countries, were incinerated at a designated site 70 nautical
miles off the Dutch coast in the North Sea. The combustion temperature exceeded 1200C and achieved 99.9999% destruction of
PCBs. The practice was regulated and closely monitored by the
Dutch authorities. Despite the advantages of ocean incineration and
the lack of evidence indicating detrimental effects on the marine
environment, the practice was phased out in 1995 (Clark, 1989a).
In the United States, Waste Management, Inc., one of the giants
of commercial waste management, was allowed to conduct experimental burns of liquid hazardous wastes in the Gulf of Mexico. In
1991, as a result of protests against the practice, the EPA ordered
an end to the incineration in the gulf.
In 1972, 90 nations met in London and negotiated the London
Dumping Convention, which regulated pollution from ships, oil

ARE THERE BETTER DISPOSAL METHODS?

rigs, and other marine sources. The dumping of certain toxic substancessuch as cadmium and mercury compounds, as well as
high-level nuclear wasteswas banned. Until 1971, 8 European
countries used 10 sites in the northeastern Atlantic for dumping lowlevel radioactive wastes such as contaminated piping, concrete and
building material, glassware, and protective clothing, from nuclear
power stations, universities, and research centers. The waste was
packed in concrete-lined steel drums and embedded in bitumen or
resin to ensure that the containers did not implode from the great
pressure at the seabed. The steel, concrete, and bitumin/resin delayed corrosion and leaching of the contents, allowing the radioactivity to decay and ensuring a slow release of the contents so they
would be greatly diluted (Clark, 1989a).
After 1971, the dumping sites were combined into one site 900
kilometers offshore and 550 kilometers beyond the edge of the Continental Shelf, with a depth of 4400 meters. The United States used
a site 2800 meters deep in the western Atlantic between 1946 and
1967. In 1983, the London Convention passed a resolution that
called for an end to the dumping of low-level nuclear wastes, and
this practice ceased.
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from
Ships was expanded in 1978 to ban the dumping of various types
of waste, including garbage bags, fishing nets, and ropes. The U.S.
law that implements the International Convention includes provisions that forbid dumping of plastics within 320 kilometers of the
coast and the dumping of other wastes such as metal and glass
within 19.2 kilometers. In 1991, another provision was added to the
International Convention that declared the Gulf of Mexico a Special Area and banned dumping of any kind there.
Uncontrolled dumping at sea is clearly not acceptable. The view
that no wastes at all can be disposed of at sea is becoming more
prevalent. If sea disposal is ruled out, however, those wastes will
have to be disposed of on land, also an unattractive option. The
natural question is whether there is some happy medium. Are there
some classes of waste that could be dumped in the ocean in controlled quantities without causing detrimental effects?
The oceans have considerable capacity to absorb organic wastes,
which are subject to bacterial attack that decomposes these compounds to stable inorganic compounds such as carbon dioxide,
water, and ammonia. In principle, such degradable wastes are no
different from the plant and animal remains and excreta that occur
naturally in the marine environment. The problem then is twofold:

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THE WASTE CRISIS

first, to ensure that any organic wastes that are disposed do not
contain other contaminantssuch as heavy metals or pathogens
in quantities that are deleterious; and second, to ensure that too
much waste is not disposed at any one site, so that the local area
does not become overloaded, resulting in oxygen depletion.
Experiments have been conducted with dumping compacted
bales of shredded refuse to determine whether they would act as
suitable substrates for marine life (Loder et al., 1983; described in
Neal and Schubel, 1987). Some of the bales contained food waste
and others did not. Glass and metal were added to increase the
density and ensure that the bales would sink. Mobile organisms
increased in abundance on and near the bales, but no changes were
observed in the animals that lived on the bottom. The bales maintained their integrity for the year they were studied, and concentrations of potentially toxic products formed within the bales dropped
to ambient levels in the nearby seawater and were not deemed to
pose a threat to marine life.
Experiments have also been conducted that incorporated incinerator ash in concrete blocks used to build artificial marine reefs
that would provide a habitat for fish. An artificial reef was constructed by researchers at the State University of New York at Stony
Brook in Conscience Bay off the north shore of Long Island, using
large blocks (3 m by 1.2 m by 0.6 m) containing 65% to 75% ash
from three waste incinerators (Woods, 1991). After five years, the
reefs were still very stable and showed no signs of leaching.
Carefully controlled disposal at sea of limited types of waste, in
limited quantities, in a manner that is sustainable, should be achievable. But defining the standards requires considerable scientific
research and understanding of the marine environment and the
impact of the wastes on it.
The issue of ocean dumping of wastes has a sense of "deja vu"
about it. At first, humans thought that land was limitless and that
garbage disposal could be done with impunity. If necessary, we
could just move to a new locale; space was not a problem, and the
adage, "Out of sight, out of mind," ruled the day. We have learned
that this is not true: with a fast-growing population, our land and
associated surface and groundwaters have become incredibly precious resources. Yet we are now repeating the same mistake with
the oceans. Unlimited and careless ocean dumping violates the basic
principles of sustainable development. The oceans are not an infinite and limitless resource. Unless we cease careless disposal, we
will eventually despoil the oceans, our last frontier.

ARE THERE BETTER DISPOSAL METHODS?

Deep-Well Injection

The disposal of liquid wastes by injection into wells that penetrate

deep into subsurface geologic formations has become relatively
common in some areas. This practice was originally developed for
disposal of brines produced as byproducts of oil and gas exploration and production. The method has been used for particularly
hazardous wastes, such as acid and cyanide compounds, pesticide
residues, process wastes, and even military nerve-gas byproducts.
The justification is that the wastes are injected into carefully selected
geologic formations that are so deep (the wells can penetrate two
kilometers or more), so hot (temperatures at these depths can reach
over 200C), and so laden with natural dissolved chemicals that their
groundwaters would be of no conceivable use to humans for drinking, irrigation, or industrial uses.
Deep-well injection is still in use for hazardous wastes today (see,
for example, chapter 11, the Alberta Special Waste Management
Facility). This technology is feasible in locations that have deep
sedimentary geologic formations and also where oil exploration and
pumping is going on, so that the drilling equipment and necessary
well-development expertise are available. Most injection disposal
wells in the United States are in the Texas and Louisiana petroleum
fields, whose geology has been very well mapped.
Underground geology is critical to the siting of a deep-injection
well. The target injection zone(s) must be isolated or confined
below stable formations and must be removed from areas of petroleum or gas production, as well as from any aquifers that could
be used for water extraction. In fact, suitable injection zones should
lie below any areas of petroleum production in a formation that
has no conceivable usefor example, one that contains saline or
brackish waterand that has no connection with shallower formations containing aquifers. The target formation also has to have
appropriate hydrologic properties to be able to receive the intended
waste volumes.
Deep-well injection is a high-technology disposal method employing equipment and methods from the petroleum and gas industry. The injection well must be designed to withstand the corrosive
conditions and high temperatures that may be encountered at depth.
The well will almost certainly pass through aquifers or petroleum
reservoirs, and so it must be constructed with one or more casings,
leak-detection systems, and formation-sealing systems to prevent
leakage (EPA, 1985).

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THE WASTE CRISIS

In spite of precautions, accidents can occur. In 1984 in Ohio, 170

million liters of steel-pickling acid and other wastes leaked from
hazardous waste injection wells into porous sandstones. The leak
was caused by well-casing cracks and corrosion. The responsible
company was fined $10 million (Boraiko, 1985).
Although this disposal method is not applicable to solid wastes,
it may be possible to inject incinerator ash into deep formations in
slurry form. A schematic cross-section of well casing for deep injection of wastes is shown in Figure 8.4.

Injection with Hydrofracturing

A variation of the deep-injection disposal method involves injection of a liquid waste in cement slurry form into the subsurface
under such pressure that the liquid fractures or parts the strata and

8.4 Schematic cross-section of a deep-injection well.

ARE THERE BETTER DISPOSAL METHODS?

flows into it. The waste is mixed with cement or other additives
so that it will harden once in place. The waste is incorporated into
the geologic formation and effectively contained by the weight of
the overburden. This method has recently been shown to be feasible and economically competitive under appropriate conditions
(Dusseault, 1995). In one case, over 9,000 cubic meters of finegrained sand coated with heavy oil was injected into a horizontal
bed of sand at a depth of 690 meters. Experts believe that this technique could be used for wastes that are inert (i.e., that will not decompose or react with the surrounding strata) and fine-grained or
granular, such as ash from incinerators.
The ideal location for injection with hydrofracturing would have
the following characteristics: geology consisting of flat-lying sediments; a target horizon that is permeable and porous; a target horizon hydrologically isolated from aquifers that contain potentially
usable water, and from the ground surface, by thick shale and clay
layers; and no nearby faults, oil reservoirs, soluble salts, or potentially valuable resources. Many sites in sedimentary basins meet
these specifications.

Exotic Solutions

Several imaginative methods have been proposed to deal with wastes,

especially nuclear wastes. The goal is to place these substances where
they cannot impinge on living organisms.
Polar Ice Cap Disposal

A proposal has been put forward to dispose nuclear wastes in the

polar ice caps. The rationale is that very few humans or other living beings would come in contact with the waste in these isolated
regions. Furthermore, if the wastes were frozen into the ice, they
should remain effectively in a deep freeze forever.
Needless to say, this disposal method faces insurmountable logistical complications, such as costs, difficulty of transportation,
and access to international territory. Furthermore, the future effects of global warming need to be considered. Like dumping in
the oceans, this approach seems attractive primarily because of the
remoteness of the area. There is, however, potential for polluting
an otherwise pristine area whose environmental sensitivity is not
fully understood.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Sub-Seabed Disposal

A variation of ocean dumping has been proposed for nuclear wastes,

although it has never been implemented. This method involves
encapsulating waste in cylinders which are shaped somewhat like
rockets with pointed noses. The cylinders would be dropped from
a ship into the ocean and would fall to the bottom and burrow a
few meters into the ooze on the sea floor. Ongoing sedimentation
would continue to add cover over the tops of the cylinders, albeit
at a slow rate. Thus, the wastes would become sealed below the
seabed, an area that is isolated and would prevent or greatly slow
leaching and escape of the contents. Even if some radionuclides
were to escape, they would be greatly diluted by sea water.
The cost of manufacturing appropriate cylinders makes this
method prohibitively expensive for all but the most concentrated
wastes. There are also problems related to the international status of the oceans and the various anti-dumping conventions in
force at this time.
An interesting variation of seabed disposal is a proposal to drop
the wastes into deep ocean trenches where tectonic plates bump into
each other and one plate submerges into the Earth. Not only are these
the deepest parts of the ocean; in addition, the subducting plate
would, over millions of years, carry the waste tens to hundreds of
kilometers below the Earth's surface. Such ocean trenches occur in
a long arc along the western coast of South and Central America,
and in another long line stretching from the Aleutian Islands to the
eastern coast of Japan to north of New Zealand. A potential problem is the fact that the friction between the two plates causes enormous heat, so that the islands and continental coasts next to ocean
trenches have abundant volcanoes. It might cause future generations
consternation to see volcanoes spewing up their ancestors' garbage.
Shooting Wastes into Outer Space

One proposal that has been put forth is truly in the realm of science
fiction: wastes would be propelled into outer space. In theory, this is
a great idea. Waste shot into the Sun would be completely incinerated and destroyed. However, the cost of rocket launches is currently
prohibitive, even for the most toxic of wastes. Furthermore, should
an accident happen during the launchas in the disastrous explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986toxic contaminants would be sprayed over large tracts of land and water.

ARE THERE BETTER DISPOSAL METHODS?

Summary

This chapter has explored a wide range of alternatives for the disposal of solid waste, including waste emplacement under the
oceans, deep underground, into polar icecaps, or even into outer
space. Of the disposal alternatives discussed, two in particular
have potential. The first is disposal deep underground. Solid rock
offers considerable containment and protection. It makes sense to
place wastes deep underground where they will he contained and
isolated, rather than on the surface where erosion and weatheringnot to mention human curiositycan attack and deteriorate
engineered and natural barriers. Although the human race has
explored and sent probes millions of kilometers into outer space,
our exploration of the planet's inner space, is limited to shallow
probings by boreholes and mines. Thus, the disposal of wastes, of
whatever kind, will be considerably safer deep underground in
carefully selected locations, than in surface landfills near urban
centers. Containment is provided by geological formations that
have been stable for many tens or even hundreds of millions of
years. It can be predicted with some confidence that they will retain this stability for eons to come.
Underground disposal facilities should be located in sites with
the following characteristics:
Structurally stable rock
Little or no economic value
Groundwater in small quantities and moving slowly; preferably saline or unusable
An advantage of deep underground disposal is that it does not
utilize space on the ground surface, which remains free for other
uses. It would also be very easy to collect methane from underground chambers containing municipal waste.
Attractive as underground disposal appears, it is economically
prohibitive for municipal solid wastes at this time owing to their
large volumes, although it may become feasible once a greater diversion of municipal wastes is achieved. This method has already
been shown to be feasible in Germany for hazardous wastes.
The second alternative that deserves serious considerationand
is starting to receive some useis landfill mining in conjunction
with incineration and energy recovery. This can extend the lifespan
of landfills manyfold, as well as allowing engineering upgrades to
be made to older landfills.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. With one or two friends or classmates brainstorm how to
dispose of solid wastes in ingenious ways that have not
generally received consideration. How many ways can you
devise for safe disposal if cost is no obstacle? What are their
pros and cons? Can you think of any methods that are economically feasible?
2. What do you think of ocean disposal? Should it be done at
all? For some wastes? For all wastes? If it were to proceed
on some limited basis, how should disposal in international
waters be regulated, monitored, and enforced?
Suggested Reading
Cousteau, Jacques, and D. James. 1988. The Living Sea. New York: Nick
Lyons.
Duxbury, Alison, and Alyn Duxbury. 1984. An Introduction to the
World Oceans. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown.
Greenpeace. 1987. Coastline: Britain's Threatened Heritage. London:
Kingfisher.
Gregory, C. E. 1983. Rudiments of Mining Practice. Houston, Tex.: Gulf.
Kullenberg, G. (ed.). 1986. The Role of the Oceans as a Waste Disposal
Option,Proceedings of a NATO Conference. Boston: D. Reidel.
Vesilind, P. J. 1989. The Baltic: Arena of Power. National Geographic,
May, pp. 602-635.

9
INCINERATION
The Burning Issue

l i r e has always held a fascination for humans, and it has been one
of our most useful tools. Fire has provided warmth, cooked food,
cleared forest lands, offered protection against marauding animals,
and much more. Although garbage has probably been burned ever
since humans discovered fire, it has been incinerated in a systematic manner for only about a century. Perhaps surprisingly, given
its long history and obvious benefits, waste incineration is a topic
that is both controversial and emotional. In this chapter we will
discuss the advantages and disadvantages of incineration and how
it can contribute to an integrated waste management program.
Under proper conditions, incineration provides a number of
benefits:
It greatly reduces the volume of waste that must go to disposal in landfillsa vitally important objective. In conventional municipal incinerators, the volume reduction ranges
from 80% to 95%, with a mean of about 90%.
It can be used in conjunction with landfill mining (see chapter 8) to reclaim closed landfills and greatly extend the
operating lifetimes of existing landfills.
The ash produced is relatively homogeneous and thus more
suitable than raw waste for treatment such as solidification
in concrete.
A relatively large proportion of the organic compounds,
including putrescible and hazardous wastes, is destroyed;
thus, there is a net reduction in the quantity of toxics.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Energy can be generated as a useful byproduct, which preserves nonrenewable fuels like natural gas, oil, and coal.
Fewer air pollutants are produced by burning waste than
by burning coal or oil.
The use of incineration has been increasing in the United States
since about the mid-1980s, and currently the country burns about
16% of its municipal wastes (EPA, 1994). This figure is significantly lower in Canadaabout 4%but it can be much higher
overseas. For example, Japan, which faced its waste disposal crisis in the 1950s, 20 years before the crisis reached North America,
incinerates approximately 34% of its municipal garbage (Hershkowitz & Salerni, 1987). Most Japanese incinerators generate electricity. In Sweden, the government regards waste as a resource, not
something to be squandered by landfilling; approximately 41% of
its waste is incinerated in 21 waste-to-energy incinerators, with
almost all the energy being delivered to district heating systems
(Rylander, 1994). This energy corresponds to 4.5 terawatt-hours
(tera means 10 raised to the power 12), or 15% of the total district
heating requirements in Sweden. There are more than 400 waste
incinerators in the world.
The main drawback to incineration is that the process releases
contaminants into the air, violating the principle of protecting health
and environment. Thus, if incineration is to be used, it must incorporate rigorous emission controls. There is considerable opposition
by the public to the use of waste incinerators, at least partly because
older incinerators certainly caused air pollution. Modern waste-toenergy plants have largely overcome this deficiency by including
improved combustion processes, better pollution control technology, and the production of a useful product, energy.
Opponents of incineration argue that contaminants are spread
into the atmosphere where they cannot be controlled, instead of
being contained in a landfill. Another disadvantage of an incinerator is that it is more costly to construct than a landfill; furthermore,
all of the capital cost is incurred up front, whereas landfill capital
costs are spread over the operating lifetime. Incinerator technology
is far more sophisticated than that of a landfill, requiring more careful control and trained operators.
Design criteria for incinerators should ensure that:
Air will be supplied in the quantities needed for proper
combustion.

INCINERATION

Air, waste, and combustion products will be mixed to ensure complete combustion.
Gases will be tempered and cooled to prevent damage to
the refractories (heat-resistant incinerator liner) and to allow
the gases to be treated.
Particulates and noxious substances will be removed from
the flue gases.
Waste will be fed into the furnace and ash removed without allowing combustion products to escape.
A water treatment plant will be incorporated to process the
water used in cooling the ash residues and flue gases.
The amount of maintenance and downtime for repairs will
be minimized.
Types of Incinerators

Three standard and two less common models of incinerator are used
in North America. Each can be operated, with some modifications,
to produce energy.
The mass-burn incinerator is the most common type and is similar to a coal-fired steam boiler. A schematic cross section of a massburn incinerator is shown in Figure 9.1, and an aerial view of an
actual incinerator in Figure 11.26. An advantage of mass-burn incinerators is that the waste requires minimal processing. Mixed

9.1 Schematic view of a mass-burn waste-to-energy incinerator.

147

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THE WASTE CRISIS

garbage, from which only the largest items such as appliances and
logs are removed, is brought to the plant and placed in a large waste
storage pit. An overhead crane mixes the refuse to provide a relatively uniform fuel and then loads it into hoppers which carry the
waste onto grates in the furnace. Fans in the furnace floor and walls
provide air for the oxidation (i.e., combustion) process. The waste
is burned at an optimal temperature of about 1100C and remains
on the grate for 45 to 70 minutes to ensure complete combustion.
The gases that form are heated by supplemental fuel injection
for an additional second or two to ensure complete destruction of
resistant chemicals. The hot gases are then cooled by water in
boiler tubes that generate steam for electricity, heating, or other
purposes. Then the gases are sent to pollution control devices,
which may include ammonia injection for NOX (nitrogen oxides)
control, a dry scrubber for SO2 and acid gas control, carbon injection to remove mercury and dioxin, and a baghouse to remove
particulate matter.
The ash that accumulates at the bottom of the furnace is removed
through a water-quenched conveyor and emptied into a storage area
from which it is periodically removed and transported to a landfill. Some plants remove and recycle the larger pieces of iron and
other metals that have not burned. Fly ash is collected from the dry
scrubber and baghouse and taken to a landfill. Mass-burn incinerators can have capacities of 90 to 2,700 tonnes of garbage per day. A
case history of a mass-burn incinerator is presented in chapter 11.
A modular incinerator is similar to a mass-burn incinerator but
typically has a smaller capacity, in the range of 14 to 365 tonnes of
waste per day. It is modular in design and can be built in units at
the factory and then shipped to the facility site.
A refuse-derived fuel (RDF) incinerator bums garbage that has
been processed before being burned. Although processing is required, the prepared fuel will be consistent and will meet specifications for energy content, moisture, and ash content. A significant
advantage is that recyclable materials such as iron, aluminum, and
glass can be removed during the processing. The RDF can be produced in shredded or fluff form, or it can be compacted into a denser
fuel such as pellets or cubes. Densified RDF is more costly to produce, but it has the advantage of being easier to transport and store.
This fuel works most effectively in specially designed boilers, but
it can also be used in coal-fired boilers. RDF has an energy value
comparable to that of coal and can be used either alone or mixed
with coal. Because of the higher energy content and more uniform

INCINERATION

nature of the fuel, RDF incinerators are smaller and can be more
effectively controlled than mass-burn units of similar capacity. By
the end of 1992, RDF facilities accounted for about 20% of the wasteto-energy plants in the United States.
The fluidized-bed incinerator is a relatively new technology in
North America for garbage, although it has been used to burn sludges.
This incinerator injects refuse-derived fuel into a loose, moving bed
of limestone and sand, which is suspended above the furnace floor,
like a fluid, by an upward flow of air. The "fluidized" bed of sand
and limestone helps to distribute the heat evenly throughout the
burn, resulting in more complete combustion and more uniform ash
quality. In addition, the limestone helps to neutralize acids; this,
combined with the higher combustion efficiency, results in lower
emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, and dioxins than
occurs from the other types of incinerators.
Because fluidized-bed incinerators require preprocessing of waste,
they fit well with materials recycling. These incinerators, being
much smaller than mass-burn incinerators, may be more appropriate for smaller communities.
Rotary kiln furnaces similar to those used in the cement industry can be used for incinerating wastes. The kilns are large, gently
sloped cylinders lined with refractory (heat-resistant) materials
that rotate slowly while being heated to very high temperatures.
A supplementary fuel such as oil or gas is generally used. The kiln
system is very flexible and can handle a wide variety of waste types
and sizes. Kilns 2.5 or 3.0 meters in diameter are common and can
handle large waste pieces, including drums. The kilns are slightly
inclined so that waste moves down the slope. The length of the kiln
and the amount of incline control the time of exposure of the waste
to high temperatures, and these features can be designed to provide
the required destruction level. Some kilns are designed to maintain
a layer of melted glasslike slag on the inside of the drum; this protects the lining, or refractory, of the furnace from the high temperatures and prolongs its life; it also produces a more leach-resistant
vitrified ash residue and helps to capture fine combustion particles.
Gas scrubbers and dust removal systems are easily attached.
In all incinerators, the hot gases produced by incineration must
be cooled to stop chemical reactions and to protect the downstream
pollution-control equipment. Cooling is usually done by quenching the hot gases with large volumes of water. The water and condensate are sent to a wastewater treatment plant, which forms a
necessary part of a modern incinerator.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Waste to Fuel Cement Kilns?

instead of building new incinerators, waste can i>e used to replace fossil fuels
that are burned in existing rotary Win furnaces used to make cement Because
of the requirements of the cement-making process, these furnaces operate
at the. same high temperatures and long residence tiroes that are required to
incinerate wastes. When properly managed, this is a win-win situation. The
cement industry benefits because wastes replace expensive fossi fuels. The

environment beniefts because wastes are destroyed that would otherwise be

placed in landfill; in addition, renewable resources are saved, in the United
States and Canada, about 9% and 3%, respectively, of the fuel used in cement plants are provided by waste, The figure is as high as 25% in some
European countries. Wastes commonly used In cement kilns include scrap
tires, spent solvents, ysed oil, and wood wastes, alt of which have high thermal content. Municipal refuse and refuse-derived fuels coufd also be used.

By the early 1990s there were 160 municipal waste incinerators

operating in the United States; Table 9.1 lists them by type. Massburn incinerators were the predominant type, and the majority created electrical energy. In addition, there were approximately 6,000
medical incinerators operating mostly at hospitals, attesting to the
ability of combustion to destroy germs and pathogens.
An incinerator's efficiency of combustion is an important factor.
As combustion efficiency increases, more organic materials are destroyed and less dioxin and other pollutants are formed. Combustion efficiency is determined by temperature, combustion time, turbulence (which allows mixing of the fuel with oxygen), and uniform
conditions throughout the burn volume. Typical mass-burn incinTable 9.1. Municipal incinerators operating in the United States in
1992 (Murphy, 1993).
Technology

No. Facilities Capacity (tonnes/day)

Incinerator
Mass-burn waste-to-energy
incinerator
Modular waste-to-energy incinerator
Refuse-derived fuels plus other
fuel combustion
Total

34
65

6,330
59,570

48
13

4,800
4,680

160

75,380

INCINERATION

erator temperatures are greater than 1000C, and the residence time
of waste in the furnace is generally from 45 to 70 minutes. For fluidized-bed incinerators as well as for shredded waste, the residence
time can be substantially less.

A Vest-i>ockt Incinerator
At the world's northernmost permanently inhabited settlement, they had a
garbage problem. The shallow soils, permafrost, and delicate Arctic ecology
at Alert, a Canadian armed forces base of aboyt 280 people, were not conducive to building a landfill. The base is accessible only by air, and it was very
expensivenot to mention messyto fly Alert's waste to a more southerly
landfill. The solution was a smali incinerator.
A two-tonne-per-day system was designed and supplied by ECO WASTE Solutions of Burlington, Ontario. Flown yp to Alert in two Hercules aircraft, the
system was installed and operating in April 1994, Figure 9.2 shows the incinerator being unloaded from a Hercules aircraft, and Figure 9.3 shows it
set op. The incinerator operates in a batch mode, with a main chamber where
bated waste is burned using oil (or natural gas) at temperatures between SCO"
and 7QQ"C for about 18 hours in starved-air conditions. The main chamber
is cubica! and about the size of a iarge cioset (2 meters on a side). Cases and
particutates pass into an adjoining cylindrical afterburner where they are further incinerated at about 1000C in a turbulent environment
An auxiliary system allows liquids to be injected into the primary chamber so
that waste oils and petroleum products, a major waste problem at northern
bases, can be destroyed. The unit is automated with computer controls, eliminating the need for a permanent operator on site. After three years of successful operation at Alert, the Department of National Defence is studying
ways to yse the system to clean up the now defunct DEW Line early warning
radar stations that dot the Arcticsites that would not be an environmental
problem today if such incinerators had been installed originally.
This small-incinerator approach hoids great promise for many small-volume
waste generators such as isolated communities, iarge ships, and factories; it is
already starting to be used by hospitals. Because of the system's inherent simplicity and modular design, it is easy to build larger units or incorporate additional pollution control devices (a wet-scrubber is available), and to extract and
use the heat that is generated, More important, because of its smalt size, relative simplicity, and good environmental performance, it is easy for people to
understand this incinerator and the benefits it can bring to their community.

151

9.2 Incinerator being unloaded in the Arctic from a Hercules

aircraft (courtesy of ECO Waste Solutions).

9.3 Incinerator installed in Burlington, Ontario (courtesy of ECO

Waste Solutions).

INCINERATION

There are many environmental concerns that must be addressed

in deciding whether to include an incinerator as part of a waste
management system. The two main issues are air emissions and the
ash that is produced. Other factors include increased truck traffic
and the capital cost of the facility.

Air Emissions

Because an incinerator is based on the principle of combustion, the

generation of air emissions is unavoidable. Thus, a critical requirement of modern incinerators is that they have good emission control equipment and meet all applicable air pollution regulations.
Indeed, the control of air pollutants is a very difficult and expensive
engineering problem that accounts for much of the complexity and
cost of a modern waste incinerator.
Health risks associated with these emissions are caused, in particular, by toxic organic compounds such as dioxins and furans,
which were first discovered in incinerator emissions in 1977, and
by heavy metals such as lead, cadmium (from plastics), and mercury (from batteries). In addition, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and acid gases such as sulphur dioxide and
hydrogen chloride are generated.
Materials that contribute to these harmful emissions include household batteries, lead-acid vehicle batteries, electronic components, and
some plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that contain lead and
cadmium. Yard wastes and other materials with a high moisture content can cause the furnace to burn inconsistently and incompletely,
resulting in the formation of dioxins. The following pollutants would
be discharged to the atmosphere from incinerating one tonne of solid
waste if no pollution control equipment were used (Sarofim, 1977):
Particulates
Sulphur oxides
Carbon monoxide
Hydrocarbons
Nitrogen oxides
Hydrogen chloride

15 kg.
0.8 kg.
18 kg.
0.8 kg.
1 kg.
0.3 kg.

Note that emission control devices remove significant proportions

(90% to 99%) of some of these pollutants.
The recognition that incinerator emissions have an adverse impact
on human health and the environment, coupled with the passing of

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THE WASTE CRISIS

the Clean Air Act of 1967 in the United States, resulted in significant
improvements in air pollution technology. The U.S. EPA estimates
that 95% to 99% of particulate and organic pollutants can be removed
from air emissions if appropriate pollution prevention measures are
taken. Modern pollution-prevention measures include temperature
control, scrubbers, baghouses, and precipitators, described below.
The incinerator should be operated at a constant and uniform temperature. When combustion temperatures are below about 800C,
odorous emissions may occur. Combustion temperatures of greater
than 1000C minimize the emission of carbon monoxide, dioxins,
furans, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other potentially
hazardous compounds in the flue gas. Combustion control appears to
be one of the best ways of reducing emissions of dioxins and furans.
Since the formation of carbon monoxide (CO) is a sign of incomplete
combustion, it can be used as a "surrogate" to monitor dioxins and
furans. This is very useful because CO can be measured using continuous emission monitoring methods, whereas dioxins and furans cannot.
Scrubbers are used to control acid gases and to cool the flue gas,
causing pollutants to condense before the gas enters the next stage
of the pollution control system. Either wet or dry scrubbers can be
used. Dry scrubbers, also known as dry sorbent injection scrubbers,
immerse the emissions in a very fine powder lime which neutralizes the acid gases and also improves mercury capture. The dry
scrubber system has a low capital cost and can be installed easily
in existing facilities. Wet scrubbers use the same principle as dry
scrubbers, but they spray a lime-and-water mixture onto the emissions to convert the gases into liquids and solids for collection in
an electrostatic precipitator. Wet scrubbers can be placed after, but
not before, a baghouse system.
Baghouses are filtering devices composed of a series of large,
porous bags through which gases, but not particulates, can pass. A
baghouse may contain several hundred individual bags which function on the same principle as vacuum-cleaner bags. Baghouses are
replacing electrostatic precipitators as the pollution control technology of choice because they collect more particulate matter and are
better at trapping very fine particles. This is important because
heavy metals and organics tend to attach to smaller particles.
Baghouses are used with dry scrubbers.
Electrostatic precipitators remove particulate matter by negatively charging particulates as they pass through the unit and collecting them on positively charged metal plates as they exit the unit.
These units can be used with both dry and wet scrubbers.

INCINERATION

Prior to about 1967, waste incinerators had few pollution control

devices; most of these older incinerators were removed from service
following the passage of the Clean Air Act. The energy crisis of the
mid-1970s led to renewed interest in waste-to-energy incinerators,
and those built in the 1970s and early 1980s employed baghouses or
electrostatic precipitators and were as clean, or cleaner, than most
power plants using coal or oil. Almost none of these plants had acidgas controls. In 1990, the United States made a national commitment
to add acid-gas controls to most power plants, including waste-toenergy incinerators. At the same time, many plants were also adding
other, more advanced pollution control technologies.
Dry scrubbers, described above, control acid gas emissions. More
advanced upgrades include controls for nitrogen oxide and mercury.
Nitrogen oxide is composed of NO and NO2, which are collectively
known as NOX. These are formed as a result of the thermal interaction beween oxygen and nitrogen in air, as well as nitrogen contained in the waste, during the combustion process. Nitrogen oxides
are precursors to ozone (O3) and peroxyacetal nitrate (PAN), the
photochemical oxidants that form smog. Nitrogen oxides can be
converted to nitrogen and water by spraying ammonia or urea into
the hot furnace exhaust. Blowing activated charcoal into the exhaust
gas prior to the baghouse is an effective control device for dioxins
and furans, mercury, and many semivolatile products of incomplete
combustion such as chlorobenzens, PAHs, and PCBs, as well as
particulates.
Table 9.2 summarizes the pollution control devices currently in
use and the contaminants they prevent or collect.
In the United States, an acceptable incinerator for hazardous
wastes has been defined as one that reduces the amount of any
particular toxic compound by 99.99%. This is known as the "four
nines" standard. In some cases, most notably for PCB incineration,
a destruction level of 99.9999%, or six nines, is required.
Table 9.2 Summary of incinerator pollution control technologies.
Technology

Contaminants Affected

Date Introduced

Good combustion control

CO, dioxins, furans, VOCs,

and others
Particufates
Particulates
Acid gases: SO2, HC1
NOX
Hg, dioxins, furans, others

before 1967

Baghouse
Electrostatic precipitator
Wet/dry scrubber
Ammonia/urea spray
Activated charcoal spray

1967
1967
1990
late 1990s
late 1990s

155

156

THE WASTE CRISIS

Dloxim ami Furans

The emission of dioxins and furans has become one of the most complex, and
controversial Issues surrounding waste incineration, Oioxins are a family of
organic chemical compounds known as polyehiorinated dtbenzodioxins
(PCDDs), with 75 different forms that are characterized by the placement of
one to eight chlorine atoms and their aromatic rings, Tetrachlorodfbenzo-pdioxin (TCDD) is the most widely known and & found as an unwanted contaminant in pesticides, wood preservatives, and defoliants. In particular, its
association as a contaminant in th defoliant Agent Orange has helped give
dtoxin the reputation of one of the most toxic chemicais on Earth.
Furans (poivchlorinated dibenzofurans or ?CDfs) are a family of 135 organic compounds. The best known is polychlorinated dibenzo~p-furan. They
are ciosely related to dioxins.
Of the total of 210 compounds, seventeen are considered to be particularly harmful to the environment. They are very stahle and readily bioaccumulate in fatty tissue. Symptoms of human exposure to dfoxin include
chloracne (a skin disorder), diainess, and digestive disorders. In the environment, these compounds are almost always found adsorbed onto particulates such as soil, sediment, and ash. There has been considerable controversy about the health effects of dioxins (Crittenden, 1995), The U,S. EPA
conducted an extensive study and concluded that dioxins are "likely to present
a cancer threat to humans," Many scientists have discredited the EPA's aggressive regulatory stance against dioxins and claim that the EPA has overstated the risks. Although some dioxin and furan compounds have been
shown to be extremely toxic and carcinogenic in animal tests, statistical evidence has been presented that show that dioxins do not produce cancer in
humans (Crittenden, 1 5*95),
Although some dioxin is made synthetically, it is also a natural byproduct of
most combustion processes and is created by forest fires, woodstoves, automobiles, power plants, metal smelting, and cigarettes. Although incineration
has often heen represented as a major cause of dsoxins, recent EPA data indicate that the incineration of municipal waste accounts for approximately 0,7%
of the dioxin in the U.S. environment This is a small fraction of the dioxin
created by woodstoves, Studies in Germany indicate that although some
dioxins are formed and some destroyed in waste incineration, the net effect
is a decrease in dioxins (Lahl et al,, 1990).
There is considerable uncertainty about the exact mechanism of how dioxins and furara are formed m incinerators. A sludy in which the amounts of
chlorine introduced via plastics were reduced, did not show a reduction in

INCINERATION

Dtoxins and Ftirans (continued)

the amounts of dioxin/furan emissions (although it did show a reduction iff
the generation of hydrogen chloride). There Is a significant correlation between
incomplete combustion and formation of dioxin/furan emissions, indicating
that good combustion control is the best way to limit their emission. It has
also been shown that dioxins are formed when a hot particylate-iaden gas is
cooled through the 200* to 400C window slowly (i.e., in a period of seconds), as occurs with heat recovery, electrostatic precipitators, and baghouses.
Wet scrubbers, which cool gases through this window in a small fraction of
a second, generally have low levels of dioxins in the stack gas.
Dioxins provide a classic example of the sensationalism that often pervades
the waste management field, in reality, our understanding of dioxins and
furans and their impact is very incomplete owing to the large number of similar compounds, the complex systems within which they exist (biosphere,
waste management facilities), and their low concentrations, as well as foecause analytical techniques for their detection became available only recently.
However, this has not prevented both sides from making unsubstantiated and
often outrageous claims.

Air emissions created by waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerators

can be viewed on a relative rather than absolute scale. In other
words, let us compare the emissions from WTE plants with those
generated by other types of electrical energy sources. Getz (1994)
performed a comparative study of the pollutants emitted by different fossil-fuel power plants, including those fired by coal, natural gas, oil, and waste. Emissions of nitrogen oxides, hydrogen
chloride, sulphur dioxide, non-methane hydrocarbons, methane,
carbon dioxide, particulates, and some heavy metals were studied. The amounts emitted were calculated on a unit-energy basis
(i.e., kilogram of emission per megawatt-hour of power generated).
Based on these comparisons, the researchers concluded that the
emissions from natural gas power plants are the cleanest. However,
most of the emissions from WTE incinerators are either lower than
or essentially equivalent to the emissions from oil and coal power
generation facilities on a net electricity production basis. In fact,
for many cases, especially for the trace metals, WTE facilities generate emissions that are five to ten times cleaner than those from
oil and coal plants.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

This is an important finding. It shows that electrical power from

waste incineration is cleaner than that from coal or oil power plants.
Thus, WTE should he preferred over these two alternatives; it will
not only help to preserve these valuable resources for the future,
but it will also cause less long-term damage to the environment in
the process. In 1991, about 0.2% of all electrical power in the United
States was generated by waste incineration, whereas about 58% was
produced by oil and coal.
The U.S. government has recognized that burning garbage for
energy is an environmentally sound strategy. For example, the U.S.
Clean Air Act of 1990 gives credits to utilities for reducing pollution
by buying power from waste-to-energy incinerators. The U.S. National Energy Policy Act of 1992 calls for greater use of incineration of municipal waste for energy as a means of reducing greenhouse gas buildup. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that
waste-to-energy technology will be one of the four largest contributors to the nation's planned carbon dioxide reductions for the year
2000, accounting for 15% of the total.
It must be recognized that if wastes (after recycling) are not incinerated, they will be placed in landfills. In addition to the increased air pollution from substituting less cleanly burning fossil
fuel for incineration, there are also significant air emissions from
landfills. While incineration releases more carbon dioxide, landfills
release more methane, which has a global warming potential 20
times greater than that of carbon dioxide.

frtew Do Landfills and incinerators Stack Up?

ARoyalCommission on Environmentsl Pollution in Great Britain studied
greenhouse emissions from both landfills and incinerators (Roya! Commission, 1993), They reported that incinerating 1 million tonnes of municipal
garbage produces net emissions of f $,,00 tonnes of carbon in the form of
carbon dioxide, whereas iandfifeg it with energy recovery produces emissions of greenhouse gases equivalent to 50,060 tonnes of carbon as carbon
dioxide. Thus, even with gas collection and burning, landfills have & worse
impact on global warming than incinerators.

Furthermore, it is only recently being recognized that trace gases

emitted from landfills can contain compoundssuch as vinyl chloride, benzene, and trichloromethanethat are harmful to human

INCINERATION

health (Birmingham et al., 1996]. A complete analysis of incineration should recognize that the alternative to incineration, landfilling,
has significant gaseous emissions associated with it. As noted in
chapter 7, recent studies indicate that gas emissions from modern
waste incinerators pose a lesser health risk than emissions from
landfills, even if the landfills have gas control systems.
A sophisticated monitoring system that controls operations and
ensures that emissions are being properly abated is an integral part
of an incinerator. Typical systems consist of contaminant monitoring at the stack and at other points. Today, waste incinerators generally employ continuous stack emission monitoring for pollutants
such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitric oxides. The data
are transmitted directly not only to the on-site control office but also
to the regulatory authority.

What to Do with the Ash?

Ash is a significant byproduct of incineration: as much as 20% to

25% by weight of ash residue can be generated. There are two
kinds of ash produced, fly ash and bottom ash. The former includes
charred paper, cinders, soot, and other light materials that rise and
travel with the hot gases and are captured by baghouses or electrostatic precipitators. Although fly ash accounts for only about 10%
to 25% of the total ash, it is generally more toxic than bottom ash
because heavy metals and dioxin are attracted to and condense on
the small fly ash particles.
Bottom ash is composed of noncombustible and incompletely
burned refuse that is left in the bottom of the combustion chamber.
It comprises 75% to 90% of the total ash by weight. Most facilities
combine the fly and bottom ashes and then cool the ash by quenching with water. This prevents the fine particles from blowing during subsequent handling and transportation.
The toxicity or hazard of the ash is dependent on the composition of the waste and on the efficiency of the combustion process.
Ash can contain dioxins, which are created during combustion and
cooling, and heavy metals, which are contained in the original
waste. Heavy metals commonly found in incinerator ash, especially
fly ash, include cadmium, lead, mercury, arsenic, beryllium, zinc,
and copper.
It is important to manage ash carefully, because the toxins it
contains are in a more mobile and bioavailable form than before

159

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THE WASTE CRISIS

incineration. In 1994, the EPA ruled that incinerator ash must be

treated as hazardous waste unless toxicity tests prove otherwise.
The ash is lightweight and composed of small particles that can
readily be dispersed in the surrounding environment. Ash can also
be leached easily by water to release heavy metals which can pollute nearby surface and ground waters. Some sound management
steps include the following:
Ash should be covered while it is in temporary storage or
during transportation.
Fly ash and bottom ash should be managed separately because the fly ash is more toxic.
Ash should be stabilized through chemical or physical
treatment to improve its leach resistance and to reduce its
toxicity.
Source reduction should be practiced; that is, materials
containing heavy metals should be kept from entering the
incinerator in the first place. For example, household batteries could be designed to exclude or minimize the use of
cadmium. The practice of household hazardous waste collection days should be encouraged.
The amount of ash can be minimized by removing incombustibles
from the waste stream it is fed into the incinerator. In Japan, for
example, because of the widespread separation of noncombustible
material from incinerator-bound waste, the volume of ash residue
is less than the 10% to 20% characteristic of American plants
(Hershkowitz & Salerni, 1987).
For decades, nearly all fly ash and bottom ash were buried in
hazardous waste landfills to minimize the risk they pose. In recent
years, however, methods have become available for stabilizing the
ash through vitrification and solidification. Vitrification involves
melting the ash and then cooling it into a glasslike substance which
can be disposed of in blocks or spun into insulating materials. Solidification, the least expensive and simplest stabilization method,
involves the addition of an adhesive substance to form a hard,
concretelike material. Both methods create an inert, leach-resistant
material which essentially locks in the heavy metals and other toxic
substances.
It would be environmentally beneficial if safe uses for incinerator ash could be found. One potential use is in road construction.
As early as 1975, ash aggregate received approval for use in highway
construction in Houston, Texas. The material, called "Littercrete,"
consists of 89% ash aggregate, 9% asphalt, and 2% lime. Topped

INCINERATION

with asphalt, the roadbed has exceeded performance standards for

conventional road materials over the past 16 years (Woods, 1991).
Research has been conducted on the use of ash in marine piers,
seawalls, and other structures. Many European countries permit the
use of bottom ash as an aggregate in roadbeds, cinderblocks, and
other materials. The United States and Canada lag behind Europe
in this regard, and most of their incinerator ash is taken to landfill.
Other Factors

Like other types of waste management facilities, incinerators generate a significant volume of truck traffic. At a large incinerator,
several hundred trucks may visit the site each day to deliver garbage and to remove ash to landfills. The impact of the truck traffic
needs to be considered in the siting of such a facility, just as it would
be for a landfill or material recycling plant.
Economics is a significant factor in considering an incinerator,
since it is a capital-intensive facility compared to a landfill. Furthermore, the entire facility must be constructed prior to its operation
rather than being developed throughout its lifetime like a landfill. In addition, pollution control technology and ash disposal contribute significantly to the facility's cost.
The Case Against Incineration

In recent years, in spite of the desperate need for alternatives to

landfilling, incineration has raised considerable debate, controversy,
and opposition. In Ontario, for example, the provincial government
opposed waste incineration and banned the construction of new
incinerators between 1991 and 1995. Only four incinerators are
currently operating in the province.
The main arguments put forth by opponents of incineration are:
Contaminants are dispersed into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming, acid rain, and respiratory health
problems. In other words, incineration merely transfers
contaminants from one medium to anotherfrom the
ground to the atmosphere.
A new type of waste, ash, is created that is more toxic and
bioavailable than the original waste.
New, highly toxic compoundsdioxins and furansare
created.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Incineration needs paper and other combustibles and thus

competes with and detracts from recycling programs.
Let us study each of these arguments in turn. While it is true that
incinerating waste contributes to atmospheric pollution, it must be
realized that the alternativeplacing waste in landfillsalso contributes significantly to pollution of the atmosphere. In fact, controlling emissions from a landfill is much more difficult, owing to
its large size and heterogeneous nature, than controlling emissions
from an incinerator where the combustion gases are all funnelled
through a stack. Moreover, atmospheric pollution by a landfill continues for many decades after it has closed.
Furthermore, landfills will eventually leak and contaminate the
groundwater. How do we compare groundwater contamination from
landfilling against air pollution from incineration? If the specific
geographic, atmospheric, geologic, and demographic settings were
known, detailed risk analyses could be performed and the health
impacts of each scenario could be estimated. Even then, comparison is complex: air pollution would lead to more immediate impacts, whereas the effects of groundwater pollution would be delayed, probably by years or even decades.
Such a detailed risk assessment was conducted by the Ontario
Ministry of Environment and Energy, comparing a hypothetical municipal landfill that collects and flares gas with a waste incinerator
of similar capacity equipped with modern pollution control systems
(Birmingham et al., 1996). The study included all possible direct
and indirect pathways via air and ground by which nearby residents
might receive exposure to contaminants. The results indicated that
although both facilities led to acceptable risks, the incinerator was
considerably safer than the landfill. A similar study that compared
only air emissions from both types of facilities showed that incinerators had a less adverse impact on the environment (Jones, 1994).
In summary, incinerators do transfer pollutants to the air, but they
emit less contaminants than if the wastes were landfilled, and they
do so under controlled conditions. Furthermore, incinerators prevent groundwater contamination.
Although the generation of ash is often perceived as a negative
aspect of incineration, it is also a positive feature. Because the organics have been destroyed, ash will not biodegrade and produce
landfill gas and landfill settlement. Because the ash is far more
homogeneous than the heterogeneous waste prior to incineration

INCINERATION

and has greatly reduced volume, it is more amenable to treatment.

For example, mixing the ash with lime and water forms a cementlike
substance which is hard and relatively leach-resistant. Thus, the ash
can be transformed into a material that is more suitable for landfill
disposal than the original refuse.
In addition, as discussed earlier, research is being conducted to
find safe uses for solidified ash in various materials and construction projects, and a number of successful demonstrations have already been completed. Once economical and safe uses for incinerator ash are fully developed, the amount of waste destined for
landfills could be greatly reduced.
In summary, ash is more suitable for landfilling with respect to
volume and stability than are unincinerated wastes; it can be improved even more by solidification into concrete. Furthermore,
research into beneficial uses for ash will eventually make ash a recyclable commodity.
Although some new toxic compounds such as dioxins are created by incinerators, this is more than offset by the organic compounds that are destroyed by combustion. Furthermore, as discussed in the sidebar, dioxins may not pose as significant a threat
to the environment as has been perceived. Nevertheless, dioxin
emissions from incinerators should be kept as low as possible.
Incinerators, when properly designed, do not compete with or
detract from recycling programs. We saw in chapter 4 that recycling
alone is not capable of diverting more than about 50% of waste from
landfills. Thus, it is vital that incineration also be used; both are
needed, and there is ample "fuel" for both, as has been demonstrated
in Japan. Problems would arise only if an incinerator had overcapacity, so that it needed extra fuel to achieve economic efficiency.
However, planning the size of an incinerator to complement a vigorous recycling program is an easy task, as has been demonstrated by
dozens of communities that have both incinerators and successful
recycling programs. A case history illustrating the harmonious coexistence of incineration and recycling is presented in chapter 11.
In summary, incineration, coupled with a strong recycling program, can greatly decrease the need for landfills, and it should form
an integral part of any waste management system. The benefits of
incineration have long been recognized in Europe and Japan, where
the use of incinerators is common. We should learn from their experiences and work to improve the way that incinerators are operated. For example, the Japanese method of presorting the waste to

163

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THE WASTE CRISIS

remove hazardous and noncombustible materials could be introduced; incinerator operators could receive more stringent training;
and the fines levied for any violations or pollution emissions could
be increased. Finally, vigorous research into more advanced emission controls and ash treatment should be encouraged.
Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. Based on the list of waste you created in one week (see

Question 4 in chapter 4), how much of the waste that is not
recycled is combustible (i.e., paper, plastic, etc.)? Based on
your qualitative observations, could a strong recycling program and an incinerator work together in your community?
What impact would this have on the size of landfill?
2. Using the information presented below, estimate the energy
content in kilojoules(kj)/kg of the waste before and after
recycling. The recycling program removes 40% of paper,
70% of cardboard, 33% of plastics, 25% of glass, and 22%
of tin cans.
Waste Item
Paper
Cardboard
Plastics
Textiles
Rubber
Yard wastes
Food wastes
Wood
Glass
Tin cans
Other metal
Dirt, ash, etc.
Total

Weight (kg)
34.0
6.0
7.5
2.0
0.5

18.5
9.0
2.0
8.5
6.0
3.0
3.0

Energy

(kf/kg)

16,280
15,820
33,030
17,440
23,260
6,510
4,880
18,610
160
700
700

6,980

100.0

If the minimum energy content required for an incinerator

is 9,300 kj/kg, are the waste streams before and after recycling suitable for incineration?
3. Research and prepare a short essay on dioxins and furans.
4. Suppose you are on a citizens' action group reviewing a
proposal for a waste incinerator in your community. What
requirements would you impose before you would accept
the incinerator?

INCINERATION

Suggested Reading
AIMS Coalition. 1994. Waste-to-Energy: Making a Clean Energy Source
Cleaner. Silver Spring, Md.: Solid Waste Association of North
America.
Clarke, M., et al. 1991. Burning Garbage in the US. New York: INFORM.
Murphy, Pamela. 1993. The Garbage Primer: A Handbook for Citizens.
New York: League of Women Voters Education Fund, Lyons &
Burford.
Tchobanoglous, G., H. Thiesen, and S. Vigil. 1993. Integrated Solid
Waste Management: Engineering Principles and Management
Issues. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Tillman,D. 1991. The Combustion of Solid Fuels and Waste. San Diego,
Calif.: Academic Press.

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10
CONTAINMENT,
ENCAPSULATION,
AND TREATMENT

Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, a landfill will

only function as well as its weakest component. The most important "links" of a landfill are the cover and bottom liner that provide
watertightness. Because of their critical significance, this chapter
is devoted to studying the materials from which these barriers are
constructed and how they are emplaced. We also look at ways in
which the wastes themselves can be converted to forms that are more
suitable for long-term disposal.

Plastics and Polymers

Polymeric membranes, more commonly known as geomembranes

or flexible membrane liners, are widely used in both the cover and
the bottom liner systems. These synthetic materials have gained
acceptance as barriers at landfills because they exhibit very low
permeabilities, they are resistant to many chemicals, and they can
often be installed for less cost than comparable clay liners.
The polymeric membranes used in landfills consist of synthetic
plastic or rubber sheets that are joined together in the field using
solvents, adhesives, or welding processes to form continuous liners.
There are several polymers and compounds that are used, and these
have a wide range of material properties. The most common materials are high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride
(PVC), chlorinated polyethyle , and butyl rubber. Of these, HDPE
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THE WASTE CRISIS

is most commonly used for landfills, in part because of its documented resistance to a wide range of chemicals. Its thickness ranges
from about 0.75 to 3 millimeters (30 to 120 mils).
Many polymers can be made in either vulcanized form (treated
with sulphur and heat to give strength by building crosslinks between
the rubber polymer molecules) or unvulcanized (thermoplastic) form.
Vulcanized liners tend to be stronger and more chemically resistant,
but thermoplastic versions of compounds like chlorinated polyethylene are more commonly used because they are easier to seam and
repair in the field. A number of additives can be introduced to improve characteristics such as stiffness or flexibility, resistance to fungicides and biocides, and resistance to ultraviolet light and ozone.

Nomenclature of Plastics Used in Landfills

A whole new family of synthetic materials has come into use in the past decade or two. Known as geosynthetics, they are used in a wide variety of civil,
geoteehnical, and environmental engineering applicationsconstructing
slopes, earthen dams, lagoons, landfills, and much more. Here is a brief explanation of the main types of materials,
Geomnmbrtmes are thin sheets of impervious rubber or plastic, used as liquid
or vapor barriers.
Ceototfffes are similar to regular textiles but consist of synthetic fibers rather
than natural ones, They are flexible, porous fabrics, generally used to separate materials of different sizesfor example to prevent a sand layer from
leaking into a stone layerwhile allowing gases and fluids to pass. They can
also be used for reinforcement,
Geogridsare plastics with a very open, strong gridlike structure with large
apertures. They are used to provide reinforcement

Georwrs consist of parallel sets of polymeric ribs tbat allow liquid to flow within
the open spaces. They are used to provide drainage for fluids and can save
substantial space compared to soil drainage layers. They are always overlain
by a geotextlie to prevent clogging by overlying soil.

Polymeric liners (geomembranes) are generally considered to be

virtually impermeable if they remain intact. However, they can have
pinholes caused by grit in the manufacturing process; they are susceptible to punctures and tears; and they can have faulty seams if

CONTAINMENT, ENCAPSULATION, AND TREATMENT

rigorous quality control is not exercised. Problems that can arise

during placement include dropping tools on the liner, driving trucks
on the unprotected liner, high winds getting under the liner, use of
excessive force in moving and placing the liner, and incomplete or
faulty welding.
Landfill construction requires that large rolls or panels of geomembrane liners, usually 4.5 meters (15 feet) wide, be joined in the
field. This is a critically important operation that requires careful
attention so that the seams do not have zones of weakness or leakage.
There are four general categories of seaming methods: extrusion
welding, thermal fusion, solvent fusion, and adhesive seaming. Only
the first two are applicable to high-density polyethylene (HDPE),
which is most commonly used for landfill liners. In extrusion welding, a ribbon of molten polymer is extruded over the edge of or in
between the two surfaces to be joined. The molten polymer causes
the surface of the sheets to become hot and melt, after which the
entire mass cools and bonds together. Different seam-welding
methods are shown in Figure 10.1.
The hot-wedge seaming method uses an electrically heated resistance element in the shape of a wedge which travels between the
two sheets. Roller pressure is applied as the two sheets converge at
the tip of the wedge to form the final seam. A hot wedge can make
a single seam, while a dual (or split) hot wedge can make two parallel

10.1 Methods for welding geomernbrane seams.

169

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THE WASTE CRISIS

seams with a uniform unbonded space between them. The latter

method has gained popularity because it allows quality control to
be conducted by pressurizing the space and then monitoring for
pressure drops that might signify leaks. The hot-air method is similar
to the hot-wedge method, except that hot air is blown between the
geomembrane sheets to cause the melting. A hot-air welding machine is shown in Figure 10.2.
Filet seaming is often the only feasible method for use in poorly
accessible areas such as sump bottoms and around pipes and sampling wells. Temperature and seaming rate are important considerations, since too much melting weakens the geomembrane and too
little melting results in a seam of poor quality.
Since the seams are vital to the performance of the liner, a number of methods have been developed to test their quality. The vacuum
chamber, or box, method uses a box with a window in the top which
is placed over the seam, on which a soapy solution has been placed.
Then a vacuum is created in the box. If the seam is defective, air
enters the box from beneath the geomembrane and bubbles appear
in the soapy solution. This method is effective, but progress is slow
and the cost is relatively high.

10.2 Hot-air welding of a geomembrane seam in the field (courtesy

of SOLMAX Geosynthetics, Inc.).

CONTAINMENT, ENCAPSULATION, AND TREATMENT

A more recent method is an electric leak detection system in

which voltage is created between one electrode in water over the
top of the liner and a grounded electrode beneath the liner. Since
geomembranes are insulators, electric current will flow only if there
is a leak. Using this method, Darilek et al. (1995) showed in a field
test that double fusion welds are superior to single extrusion welds.
The main long-term threats to polymeric membranes are penetration by roots and burrowing animals, tearing or puncturing due to
differential settlement of the landfill mass, chemical and microbial
attack, and loss of strength and polymer breakdown over time.
There is no assurance that the effective lifespan of polymeric
membranes can be much more than about 50 years, and some authors have suggested a useful lifetime of only 25 years. One noted
expert, however, feels that geomembranes can have "extremely long
service lifetimes" if they are put in place properly (Koerner, 1994,
p. 473). Nevertheless, it would be imprudent to rely only on polymeric membranes as the primary long-term barrier in a landfill capping or liner system.
The ability to estimate leakage rates through liner systems is essential not only for environmental impact assessments, but also for
designing leachate removal systems. For clay liners a uniform flow
is generally applicable, and the standard Darcy Law flow equations
can be used. In contrast, geomembrane liners are essentially impermeable and any leakage is controlled by imperfections, usually in the
approximate shape of circular holes or linear tears. A variety of
mathematical methods have been developed for calculating flow rates
through such imperfections (for example, see Oweis and Khera, 1998).

Clay Materials

Both the bottom and top liners in many landfills are constructed of
natural soil, such as clay or till with a high clay content, for three
reasons. First, suitable low-permeability natural soils are often available at the site or nearby. Second, because clay is a natural geologic
material that may have been undisturbed in situ for tens of thousands to millions of years, it is felt that it will also have a long effective lifetime as a landfill barrier. Third, the clay minerals have
the capacity to adsorbthat is, capturevarious contaminants, thus
reducing the toxicity of any leachate that might escape.
Natural clay-containing soils are suitable as liners owing to their
intrinsic low hydraulic conductivity. In-situ soil at a landfill site

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THE WASTE CRISIS

may require reworking and compaction because it has gaps formed

by fractures, roots, and animal burrows. If the natural soil is not
suitable, other soils may need to be imported; alternatively, materials such as bentonite (a pure clay mineral) may be mixed with the
existing soils.
There are three main clay mineral groups: kaolinite, illite, and
montmorillonite. Bentonites are clay minerals belonging to the
montmorillonite group. Water is readily absorbed between the layers
of montmorillonite minerals, causing swelling, which in turn decreases the hydraulic conductivity of the material. One problem with
clay liners is the incompatibility of bentonite with leachate. Depending on the leachate chemistry, there may be a tendency for the calcium ion to substitute for the sodium ion in the montmorillonite
structure, which causes shrinkage and cracking. An understanding
of the chemical and physical properties of these materials is essential in designing an effective liner system.
The chemical interactions between a soil liner and leachate can
be complicated. For example, a number of studies have shown that
the hydraulic conductivity of the liner can decrease as a result of
precipitate formation and the development of active biomass near
the upper surface of the liner, which clogs the pores (McBean et al.,
1995). In contrast, concentrated organic liquids such as benzene,
xylene, or carbon tetrachloride can alter the structure of clay soils
and increase their ability to conduct fluids by factors of 100 to 1,000.
A sound monitoring and quality assurance/quality control program
is essential for clay liner construction. Important factors include
moisture content, the type of compaction machinery, size of clods,
bonding between lifts, and uniformity of soil. Additional complications may arise when large expanses of clay liner remain exposed to
the elements for extended periods prior to placement of waste.
The main factors affecting the performance of clay liners are
hydraulic conductivity, strength, and potential for shrinkage. These
three components are related both directly and indirectly to compaction (Oweis and Khera, 1998). Thus, a sound compaction program, complete with quality control, is essential to constructing a
clay liner.
Clay barriers can be built which have very low hydraulic conductivity. Field tests have shown that clay-soil liners with an effective hydraulic conductivity of 10~8 cm/sec or less are achievable
with the use of strict design, installation, and quality assurance
guidelines (McBean et al., 1995).However, the following processes
can impair the effectiveness of the barrier with time:

CONTAINMENT, ENCAPSULATION, AND TREATMENT

Formation of cracks as a result of seasonal drying and freeze/

thaw processes
Penetration of the barrier by roots and burrowing animals
Differential settlement of waste, causing cracks to form
Gas penetration
Changes in pore water chemistry and ionic composition
Concerns about using clay as a barrier have arisen for the following reasons: there have been cases of liner failures; it is difficult to
estimate hydraulic conductivity in the field; and it is felt that leachate
chemistry will deteriorate the long-term integrity of the liner.
An interesting recent development is the marriage of clay and
synthetic materials into what is called a "geosynthetic clay liner"
(GCL). This typically consists of a relatively thin clay layer (usually
4 to 6 mm of bentonite) either sandwiched between two geotextiles
or bonded by an adhesive to a geomembrane. The advantages of this
material are several: it offers good impermeability; there is good quality control since it is a manufactured product; it occupies much less
volume in the landfill, compared to a 0.5 to 1 meter thick clay liner;
and because of its thinness, it is easy to install. On the other hand,
GCLs have low shear strength and can be used only on relatively flat
areas (less than 5% slope); in addition, considerable care is required
in installation to avoid damage by construction equipment.

Waste Treatment

Waste treatment is defined by the World Health Organization as a

chemical, physical, or biological process that reduces the hazard,
toxicity, mass, or volume of a waste and makes it more amenable
to recycling, further processing, or final disposal.
Another definition might be that treatment is a way of processing waste that in some way helps to achieve one or more of the three
basic principles outlined in chapter 2. That is, treatment is any
process that:
Reduces the risk of disposal to human health and the environment
Reduces the burden on future generations
Helps conserve resources
For example, improving the quality of the waste for disposal by
making it more leach-resistant satisfies the health-and-environment
principle as well as contributing to the future generations principle.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

There are three main objectives in performing waste treatment:

Detoxification: either changing the chemistry or destroying
certain chemical compounds, particularly those that can
harm the environment
Volume reduction: less wastes need to go to disposal, thus
reducing reliance on landfills
Isolation of waste materials from the environment: improving the way that wastes are encapsulated so that the likelihood of their escaping from the disposal facility is reduced
Two forms of waste treatment are discussed earlier in this hook
composting, which uses biological processes to convert waste into
a useful form, and incineration, which uses the chemical process
oxidation to reduce waste volume.
Waste treatment is a growing field and there are many processes,
with more being constantly developed. Most of these, such as neutralization, oxidation-reduction, hydrolysis, reverse osmosis, and
ultrafiltration, treat liquid wastes. For solid wastes, the treatment
methods are more limited and fall into the following three categories:
Physical Treatment

Various crushing and grinding operations can be used to reduce void

spaces and thus the volume of waste that goes into a landfill. This
also reduces future problems with settlement, subsidence, and possible cracking of the landfill cover. Tire-shredding and woodchipping are examples of physical treatment processes. Crushing
and grinding, like mulching wood, can also be used to increase the
surface area of organic materials to speed up the biodegradation processes in the landfill or in composting. These physical processes
are relatively straightforward mechanical operations.
Thermal Treatment

Incineration has become a favored choice for dealing with both

municipal and hazardous wastes because most organic compounds
can be efficiently destroyed and good volume reduction is achieved.
The topic of incineration was dealt with in chapter 9.
Fixation, Encapsulation, and Engineered Barriers

The process of fixation is relatively new, and its application to containing leachable solid wastes is continuing to undergo develop-

CONTAINMENT, ENCAPSULATION, AND TREATMENT

ment. Many of the methods for waste fixation and encapsulation

have been pioneered by the nuclear industry. An important potential application in the realm of municipal solid waste is the fixation of incinerator ash.
Encapsulating wastes in a material such as cement prior to placing them in an engineered landfill is akin to placing the contaminants in a box within a box. The process significantly increases
leach-resistance, and this can prevent or greatly delay the wastes
from being mobilized and entering the groundwater.
Although encapsulation is not economically viable for municipal wastes because of their great volume and heterogeneity, this
method is used for specialized wastes such as low-level radioactive
wastes and hazardous wastes that occur in smaller quantities. Cement, bitumen, and plastic polymers are used as matrix materials.
Should recycling and incineration become more widely used in
future, it may become feasible to encapsulate the fraction of municipal waste that remains. In this case, the waste would probably
need to be sorted and shredded first, like refused-derived fuel.

Containing Wastes

Various materials have been used to encapsulate wastes and render them stable. Below we discuss cement, asphalt, and metals for
such applications.
Concrete and Cement

Concrete and cement are the most common encapsulation materials,

owing to the availability and cheapness of the raw materials and
the durability of the final product. Furthermore, there is a large body
of scientific knowledge about cements and concrete stemming from
their widespread use in engineering and construction. Concrete is
used to encapsulate wastes both at low-level radioactive waste storage and disposal sites (for example, the Swedish disposal site described in chapter 11) and at hazardous waste disposal sites (for
example, the Alberta Special Waste System at Swan Hills, Alberta,
also described in chapter 11).
Concrete is a mixture of Portland cement (made from limestone),
aggregate in the form of sand and/or gravel, air, and water. It is temporarily in a plastic state during which time it can be mixed with
or molded around waste. The concrete hardens by a complex series

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THE WASTE CRISIS

of hydration reactions, the principal one being the hydration of

calcium silicates to calcium silicate hydrate and calcium hydroxide. Initially, the calcium silicate hydrate forms a gel, which then
develops a rudimentary crystalline lattice that gives strength and
rigidity to the concrete. The reaction generates heat, which can induce thermal stresses and cracking in the concrete.
Portland Cement Type \, sometimes with fine aggregate, is commonly used for the encapsulation of radioactive waste (Taplin &
Claridge, 1987). Many additives are available to improve or give
special properties to the concrete-waste mixtures. Commonly used
additives are air entraining agents, most frequently natural and
synthetic soaps, to increase the resistance to frost action; and pozzolans (siliceous substances such as fly ash and pumice that react
with lime in the presence of water) to reduce the heat of hydration,
increase resistance to sulphates, and prevent calcium hydroxide
leaching. Disadvantages of the latter are increased shrinkage with
drying and reduced durability.
Other admixtures that are being considered are finely ground
silica and fly ash, which increase the strength and decrease the
permeability of concrete. The addition of blast furnace slag moderates the hydration reactions to give lower temperatures and, consequently, lower thermal stresses. Because fly ash, usually from coalfired electrical plants, has been shown to improve the quality of
concrete, it would appear feasible to encapsulate ash from waste
incineration into concrete on a production scale.
Cement and concrete can deteriorate over time, which can lead
to a loss of long-term containment effectiveness. In addition, concrete properties can be affected by shrinkage and microbial action.
Asphalt/Bitumen

Asphalt is a black or dark brown derivative from petroleum evaporation and is also known as bitumen. Like concrete, asphalt can be
used for both encapsulation of wastes and for barrier systems in a
landfill. Asphalt can also be used as a coating on concrete barriers.
The advantages of asphalt are its low permeability to water, relative abundance and low cost, and resistance to most acids, bases, and
organic salts, and some organic chemicals. It is, however, susceptible to attack by organic solvents, particularly hydrocarbons, and
would not be suitable for encapsulation or as a barrier for wastes
with a significant content of petroleum substances.

CONTAINMENT, ENCAPSULATION, AND TREATMENT

Metals

Metals can be used as containers or barriers for waste disposal.

Because of their relatively high expense, they are not generally used
as an encapsulation material, except for specialized cases of small
volumes of very hazardous materials. If groundwater will be present
in the landfill, either from the outset or at some future time, a metal
should be chosen that corrodes very slowly and is sufficiently thick
that it will not fail within the desired containment lifetime. Failure
usually occurs as the result of localized corrosive attack, such as
pitting, formation of crevices, stress corrosion cracking, and intergranular attack.
The following metals have been evaluated for use as containers
or overpacks for containing high-level radioactive waste: stainless
steel, inconels (nickel-based alloys), aluminum, monel, coppernickel, copper, different types of titanium, and carbon steel (Johnson
et al., 1994). Carbon steel has received the most attention because
it is significantly less costly than the other metals. Stainless steel is
of interest because, with its low carbon content, it can be welded
without increasing its susceptibility to corrosion.
Although long-term corrosion rates are difficult to predict from
short-term testing, results suggest that metal containers, when
placed into a well-designed underground environment, may remain
unbreached for very long times. In Sweden, it has been proposed
to cast high-level nuclear wastes into a lead matrix inside thickwalled (60-mm) copper containers. The containers would be placed
deep underground in a borehole and surrounded by compacted
bentonite clay. On the basis of current understanding of corrosion
behavior in the anticipated groundwater, the time to breach the
copper container might approach several tens of millions of years
(SKB, 1992).
Vitrification or "Classification"

The use of vitrification was first explored in the nuclear industry

as a means of encapsulating long-lived radionuclides prior to disposal. The thought was that if the radioactive materials are embedded in specially formulated glassy material, they will be contained
for very long periods of time, perhaps even approaching the scale
of geologic time.
At present, vitrification is not an economical or practical method
for treating municipal or hazardous wastes. If new thermal technolo-

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THE WASTE CRISIS

gies evolve, or if new methods of incineration are developed that

operate at very high temperatures, it might become possible to melt
ash and incorporate it into a glass or ceramic form. Such waste forms
would be extremely resistant to leaching and would be well suited
for land disposal.

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. How long do you feel that the following manmade materials would last as a landfill liner before losing their integrity: 80 mil HDPE, 30-cm-tblck reinforced concrete, and
1-m thick compacted clay? Explain your answers.
2. If cost was not a constraint, how would you design a landfill using any of the materials described in this chapter?
Suggested Reading
Cottrell, A. 1988. Introduction to the Modern Theory of Metals. London: Institute of Metals.
Double, D. D., and A. Hellawel. 1977. The Solidification of Concrete.
Scientific American, July, 82-90.
Gillott, J. E. 1987. Clay in Engineering Geology. 2d edn. New York:
Elsevier.
Fowden, L., etal. (eds.). 1984. Clay Minerals: Their Structure, Behaviour
and Use. London: Royal Society.
Johnson, L. J., et al. 1994. The Disposal of Canada's Nuclear Fuel Waste:
Engineered Barriers Alternatives. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Report, AECL-10718, COG-93-8.
Koerner, R. M. 1994. Designing with Geosynthetics. 3rd edn. Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Neville, A. M. 1981. Properties of Concrete. 3rd edn. London: Pitman.
Street, A. C., and W. Alexander. 1972. Metals in the Service of Man.
New York: Penguin.

11
CASE HISTORIES

I heory is fine, but practical experience is the heart of real learning. This chapter providesas much as a hook cansome real-life
experience through seven case histories of how wastes are managed.
The case histories describe a state-of-the-art materials recycling
facility, five waste disposal facilities in three different countries
(the United States, Canada, and Sweden), and a large mass-burn
incinerator.
Choosing which of the many thousands of landfills in existence
to include was a difficult task. Three municipal solid waste landfills are described. The first, Fresh Kills landfill in New York City,
was constructed in 1948 and represents older landfill technology.
The second, a new landfill in East Carbon County, Utah, was built
in 1992 and incorporates the latest engineered barriers and features
of a modern landfill. The third is being developed in a large, abandoned open-pit mine in California. In addition, we discuss a landfill and treatment center for hazardous waste, located in Swan Hills,
Alberta. A unique Swedish facility for disposing radioactive wastes
rounds out the suite of landfill case histories; this facility takes a
very innovative approach to waste disposal and is included to provide a different perspective on this topic.

State-of-the-Art Recycling: The Guelph Wet-Dry Recycling Centre

Materials recovery facilities (MRFs) are the vital heart of modern

integrated municipal waste management systems. Without MRFs,
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THE WASTE CRISIS

recycling on any practical scale would not be possible; it is here

that recyclable materials are collected and made ready for sale
to secondary markets. One of the most innovative recycle centers
in North America has recently been constructed in the city of
Guelph in southern Ontario (Guelph, n,d.). It offers good insight into
what can be achieved through recycling, and the equipment that is
involved.
The city of Guelph, with a population of 95,000, is situated about
60 kilometers west of Toronto. In the mid-1980s, the city began
studying ways to reduce the amount of waste being placed in its
landfill. These studies received a major impetus in 1991, when the
province of Ontario developed a waste reduction plan that required
municipalities to reduce the amount of garbage being placed in landfills by 50% by the year 2000. A number of pilot studies were conducted before the present approach was selected.
Guelph's wet-dry approach is different from the blue-box method
that is being used in most other North American communities in
that it requires residents to divide their waste into two main streams:
wet waste (i.e., compostable waste) is placed in semitransparent
green plastic bags; dry wastewaste that is not compostable and
contains any of the recyclable productsis placed in transparent
blue bags or in labeled containers. Although this method has been
used in Europe, this was one of the first applications of it in North
America. It is a truly integrated approach which offers considerable
control, since everything passes through the Wet-Dry Centre.
An advanced approach has also been taken to the collection of
garbage. Guelph uses a fleet often custom-designed trucks (see Fig.
11.1). Each truck requires only one operator, who drives and picks
up both wet and dry garbage, placing them in separate compartments
of the truck. About 50 tonnes of dry waste and 40 tonnes of wet
waste are collected by each truck per day.
Construction of the recycle center began in 1993 and took approximately 22 months. The dry recycle plant came on line in November 1995, and the composting facility became operational in
February 1996. In 1996, the center operated with 40 to 50 staff and
processed 70,000 tonnes of waste (30,000 wet and 40,000 dry),
working one shift. A maximum capacity of 135,000 tonnes (44,000
wet and 91,000 dry) per year can be processed, working two shifts.
The cost of the Wet-Dry Centre was $27 million (U.S.), which
included pilot studies, permits, the truck fleet, and land costs. The
annual operating cost is about $1.5 million. It is projected that once

CASE HISTORIES

11.1 Custom-designed garbage truck unloading dry residential

waste.
full capacity is reached, the annual operating cost will be $3.7 million. This will be offset by revenue from sale of recyclables of about
$4.4 million per year, yielding an operating profit of approximately
$.7 million per year. Additional economic benefits include the cost
saved by avoiding landfill tipping fees and the long-term costs of
maintaining closed landfills, as well as the extra jobs created by the
recycle center.
The success of this approach is evident: in 1996, the first full year
of operation, the center was already achieving 54% diversion from
landfill. In other words, Guelph met and exceeded the provincially
mandated recycling target three years ahead of schedule. This compares with a recycling rate of about 10% achieved by their previous blue-box program. Furthermore, the approach is inherently very
flexible and offers potential for continued evolution and even greater
diversion.
A view of the center is shown in Figure 11.2, and a plan of it in
Figure 11.3. Situated on 10 hectares (25 acres) of land, the facility
has two main components. The first is a large building which houses
the material recovery facility. This building receives and processes
"dry" waste. The second main component is the organic waste processing facility. Composed of two attached buildings and an adjoining outdoor asphalt pad, it receives and composts "wet" waste.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

11.2

Guelph's Wet/Dry Recycling Centre, looking east.

11.3 Plan view of Guelph's Wet/Dry Recycling Centre.

In addition, the center contains a number of ancillary facilities:
Household hazardous waste facility
Public drop-off area
Bulky waste storage area (for large items such as appliances,
tires, and furniture)
Vehicle scale and scale house
Stormwater management facilities
Administration building

CASE HISTORIES

Siting and Environmental Issues

The recycling center is located on the eastern side of Guelph on land

that was purchased from the province. This is a relatively lightly
populated rural area, adjacent to an industrially zoned area that
includes a provincial correctional center and an abattoir. The site
was chosen, in part, to be close to the municipal landfill, which is
about 1.5 kilometers away, to minimize transportation of waste.
Traffic consists of about 170 to 200 truck visits per day, a relatively
small proportion of the traffic on the access road.
To prevent odors and birdsa concern since an airport is located
nearbyall waste is unloaded and processed indoors. A baghouse
is used to collect dust generated in the MRF. An odor-monitoring
program was initially conducted for 9 months at the composting
facility and did not reveal any emission problems. No complaints
regarding odors have been received from nearby residents.
The surface runoff from the northern half of the site, around the
administrative building and the MRF, is collected in lagoons and
discharged to the wetlands east of the facility at the rate that would
occur naturally if the facility were not present. The surface runoff
from the southern half of the site, which includes the composting
facilities, is collected in underground wells and recycled by using
it to moisten the compost. None of this "gray" water is released to
the environment, but excess water not used in the composter is
released into the sewer system. Surface water and groundwater
monitoring programs have been implemented. The latter consists
of regular sampling of six groundwater wells drilled into soils
around the site.
Materials Recycling Facility

The materials recovery facility has two main processing lines: one
for residential waste, and one for industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) dry waste. Pilot studies indicated that ICI waste is
much more uniform, consisting mostly of paper and cardboard and
with very few containers, bottles, or cans, thus justifying a separate processing line.
The main areas of the MRF are:

Separate residential and commercial tipping floors

Manual presorting station
Mechanical processing area
Manual sorting stations

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Baling, storage and shipping area for recyclables

Residual materials (i.e., waste for landfill) storage and shipping area
Employee service areas (lunch and change rooms)
Residential Waste Line. A flow chart for the residential waste separation process is shown in Figure 11.4, and the floor plan for the
materials recovery facility in Figure 11.5, which also illustrates the
path that residential dry wastes follow through the facility.
Garbage trucks dump dry waste inside the building onto a concrete tipping floor (Fig. 11.1). A front-end loader pushes the waste
onto a conveyor which carries it through a bag breaker to the presort area (Fig. 11.6): cardboard is manually removed at the first
presort station, bundles of newspaper at the second, and plastic bags
at the third.
The waste is then carried by a vibrating conveyor to a ballistic
separator. This machine is set on a slight incline, and the waste
passes over a number of revolving eccentric discs. The lighter and
flatter "two-dimensional" pieces such as paper and textiles "surf"
on top and are carried upslope, and the heavier, rounder "threedimensional" materialssuch as glass, plastic, and cansgo to the
bottom and travel downslope to their collection area. Fine materials
fall through holes and are collected in a third stream; these are sent
to landfill.
The "two-dimensional" waste component is separated manually
into the following categories: newspaper, corrugated cardboard, boxboard, fine paper, mixed paper, and textiles. These are dropped down
chutes to storage bunkers, from which they are sent to the baler.

11.4 Flow chart for processing dry residential waste.

CASE HISTORIES

11.5 Floor plan of Guelph's dry material recycling facility (courtesy of City of Guelph).
The "three-dimensional" waste component goes through a sophisticated sorting process:
An electromagnet separates iron and steel materials
An air classifier that separates aluminum and plastic from
heavier materials, primarily glass.
Aluminum and plastic go through an eddy-current separator that removes the aluminum. The remaining plastics are
then manually sorted into different plastic types.
Glass materials go onto a ring conveyor where they are
manually sorted into clear and colored fractions.
The separated recyclable materials are compacted and baled.
Figure 11.7 shows the compactor/baler, and Figure 11.8 shows baled
aluminum cans ready for shipment.
Commercial Waste Line. Commercial dry waste is unloaded onto a
concrete tipping floor adjacent to the residential unloading area. The
commercial wastes move through a presort station where oversized
and problem items are manually removed. The waste then passes
over a vibrating screen that removes fine materials, which are sent
to landfill.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

11.6 Manual sorting of dry waste (courtesy of R. Cave & Associates).

The remaining wastes are sorted manually from a conveyor, with
the recyclable materials dropped into hunkers, from which they are
sent to a baler. The materials left on the conveyor may go through
a second cycle of manual sorting and then pass under an electromagnet which collects ferrous materials. The residual material is
compacted and sent to landfill.
Composting

Wet waste is delivered to the receiving building, which has an overall capacity of about 20 to 30 tonnes per hour. Waste is dumped from
garbage trucks onto a concrete tipping floor where it is inspected
for nonprocessable materials. The waste is then passed to a screw
shredder which breaks bags and reduces the size of the pieces.
Then the waste is conveyed into a rotating trommel (Fig. 11.9)
which removes large pieces and shredded plastic bags. Oversize

CASE HISTORIES

11.7 One of two compactor/balers in the dry material recycling

facility (courtesy of R. Cave & Associates).
materials are passed through the shredder and trommel again; any
remaining oversize materials are compacted and sent to landfill.
Materials passing through the trommel screen are sent under a
magnet to remove ferrous metal. Following this, wood chips or other
additives to enhance the composting process are added, and the wet
garbage is sent to the compost building, which is attached to the
receiving building.
Both the compost and receiving buildings are fully enclosed and
kept at negative pressure to ensure that odors are contained. Air from

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11.8

Baled aluminum awaits shipment.

11.9 Wet garbage goes into a rotating trommel that separates

oversize materials from the compostable fraction (courtesy of
R. Cave & Associates).

CASE HISTORIES

11.10 Wet garbage in the primary composting channels. Note the

overhead piping for spraying and the compost-turning machine
running on tracks set on top of the walls (courtesy of R. Cave &
Associates).
the buildings is collected and passed through biofilters consisting
of shredded pine bark, chipped hardwood, and leaf compost before
being vented to the outdoors.
Composting is done in two stages. The compost building is long
and relatively narrow, with eight concrete-walled channels in the
front half for the primary composting stage (Fig. 11.10). These channels are sprinkled from overhead pipes with "gray" water to maintain optimum moisture, and aerated from below via pipes in the
gravel floor to control temperature and biological activity. The
Ontario Ministry of Environment requires that the compost be maintained for at least 3 days at 55C or higher to destroy pathogens and
weed seeds (MOE, 1991). The temperatures in the compost can
readily reach higher levels, and it must be cooled. The compost

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THE WASTE CRISIS

spends 4 weeks in the channels being progressively turnedrolled

down the channelby special machines which run on rails set on
top of the concrete channel walls (Fig. 11.10).
The compost is then placed for 4 weeks in two long windrows
inside the back part of the building for secondary composting. The
compost is aerated from below during this stage and is turned by a
front-end loader about once a week. Fresh water is added for moisture.
The finished compost is screened and cured outside on a paved
storage area for six months. After this aging, it is sold in bulk for
landscaping and site-restoration uses.
Future Directions

In 1996, a total of 16,200 tonnes of recyclable materials were recovered by the MRF, consisting of the following materials (percentages
by weight):

Newspaper (40.7%)
Corrugated cardboard (25.8%)
Scrap metal (12.1%)
Boxboard (5.9%)
Fine paper (5.4%)
Ferrous (3.8%)
Glass containers by color (2.7%)
Plastic and film (2.5%)
Aluminum (1.0%)
Textiles (0.2%)

As shown in Figure 11.11, of the total waste received by the center in 1996, about 43% was wet waste and 57% dry waste. Approximately 67% of the wet waste and 44% of the dry waste were recycled. Of the total waste, about 54% was recycled and 46% was
sent for landfill disposal.
The Guelph Wet-Dry Centre is relatively new, and early efforts
focused on commissioning the facility and fine-tuning its operations.
After three years of operation, the overall waste diversion has stabilized at approximately 58%. A primary objective is to bring the
operation up to full capacity by seeking additional waste from the
commercial and industrial sectors in Guelph, which are currently
sending much of their waste to private landfills, and from the surrounding county, as well as from some institutions outside the
immediate jurisdiction.
Guelph's wet-dry approach has enormous potential to decrease
the amount of waste being sent to landfill. The system is very flex-

CASE HISTORIES

11.11 Schematic diagram showing the recycling efficiency

achieved in 1996.

ible, and there is good control because all waste passes through the
system. Active research is going on to determine ways of extracting greater quantities of recyclable materials more efficiently.
For example, a good proportion of the waste residue consists of
"fines," material of diameter 2 cm or less, that drop through the holes
in the ballistic separator in the MRF. Although too small to sort by
hand, this material might be well suited to sorting by automated
processes which could be implemented either by adapting existing
equipment or by adding new equipment.
An exciting development, still in its initial stages, is seeking out
niche markets and then conducting selective waste sorting to supply them with the specific raw materials they need. The Guelph
facility is well suited for this kind of custom work. For example,
industrial plastic film is separated and supplied to a local cottage
industry that makes special pillows. ARC Industries Limited, a job
provider for handicapped people, is also tapping into the vast potential of Guelph's Wet-Dry Centre by providing labor for the customized waste separation. It is envisaged that Guelph's recycle center will become a mine of raw materials that will attract a host of
entrepreneurial cottage industries.
The ultimate step toward achieving the elusive dream of almost
complete recycling, however, may lie in a custom-designed anaerobic digester which is to commence operations in late 1999. The

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THE WASTE CRISIS

digester will produce methane, which will be used to generate electrical power. The digester can decompose plastics, leather, rubber,
and other materials currently being sent to landfill. Once this concept comes to fruition, Guelph will achieve over 95% waste diversiona giant leap forward for the environment.

A Monster: The Fresh Kills Landfill

With a population of more than 17 million, New York City is one

of the largest cities in the world and deals with monumental volumes of household garbage. A review of the waste situation in New
York City provides a good example of the historical development
of waste disposal in North America, as well as a graphic illustration of the inherent problems of large municipal landfills.
An excellent review of the history of waste landfilling in New York
is provided by Walsh (1991). Before the turn of the century, New
York's solid waste was simply dumped at sea. This proved a cheap
and convenient solution until beachfront communities began to protest against the frequent washing ashore of garbage. The solution was
found in 1895 in New York's first comprehensive waste management
plan. Instead of being towed to sea, barges laden with garbage were
taken to landfills located on tidal wetlands skirting the ocean. This
was considered a good solution at the time because tidal wetlands
were abundant and were thought to be of little value. Filling marshes
was believed to improve the economic value of these lands; people
did not understand the vital role of tidelands in the ecosystem.
Interestingly, the 1895 waste management plan included an intensive recycling program for paper, wood, metal, cloth products,
and food waste. This lasted until around 1918 and was not revived
until the current wave of recycling began in the mid-1980s.
After World War I, the volume of waste increased by 70%, with
annual waste generation exceeding 11 million cubic meters. To
accommodate this waste load, new landfills were opened throughout the city; by 1934, 89 truck-accessed landfills were operating.
As the population continued to grow and the geographic limits of
the city expanded, it became more and more difficult to site new
landfills, and the existing ones came under increasing pressure to
operate cleanly or to close altogether.
To that time, the landfills had been only about a meter thick and
had grown horizontally, consuming large tracts of land. This growth,
along with the inherent dirtiness of landfills, inexorably led to a

CASE HISTORIES

conflict with urban development. In 1949, the height of landfills in

New York was increased to create additional storage capacity. Vertical growth has since become a cornerstone of today's municipal
landfills.
Incineration also played a role in garbage management during the
1950s and 1960s. But owing to public opposition, the number of
incinerators decreased from 17,000 residential and 22 municipal
incinerators to zero residential and three municipal incinerators in
1985 (Neal and Schubel, 1987). The last municipal incinerator was
closed in 1993.
The conflict between municipal development and landfills continued to worsen. It combined with vigorous local oppositionthe
NIMBY syndromeso that the number of landfills in New York City
diminished steadily, from 89 in 1934 to a single one in 1991.
The lone survivor, the Fresh Kills Landfill on the west side of
Staten Island, is understandably gargantuan. It now covers approximately 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) and contains over 70 million
cubic meters of refuse. Fresh Kills Landfill has grown vertically to
the amazing height of 150 meters. It is difficult to imagine the immense size of the landfill, which is one of the largest structures ever
constructed by humansit is 25 times larger in volume than the
Great Pyramid of Giza! In fact, Fresh Kills Landfill is destined to
become the highest point of land on the Eastern Seaboard.
The location and site plan of Fresh Kills landfill are shown in
Figure 11.12. The landfill has excellent transportation links, with
access by barge and boat on the west to the Arthur Kill waterway
which connects to the other New York boroughs. An early view of
Fresh Kills Landfill is shown in Figure 11,13. In addition, Interstate
440 cuts across the middle of the landfill in a north-south direction. The landfill is divided into four sections or cells, designated
1/9, 2/8, 3/4, and 6/7. Of these, cells 1/9 and 6/7 are still active and
continue to receive waste by both barge and truck. Sections 3/4 and
2/8 received waste only by truck and stopped receiving waste in
1992 and 1993, respectively.
Fresh Kills Landfill is owned by New York City and operated by
the Department of Sanitation, with a staff of more than 500 people.
It services New York's five boroughs with a population of about 7.5
million. Garbage from Staten Island is trucked directly to the landfill, and refuse from the other four New York boroughs arrives by
barge. A crushing and screening facility processes about 680 tonnes
per day of construction debris, including concrete, asphalt, and soil.
This material is used to construct landfill roads and to provide cover

193

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THE WASTE CRISIS

11.12 Location and site plan for Fresh Kills landfill.

material. Landscaping and wooded berms are used to screen the
landfill from nearby communities.
Sited on a salt marsh in 1948, the landfill lacks many modern
pollution controls, and its management poses complex environmental problems. The Fresh Kills Landfill has no bottom liner to prevent escape of leachate, and because of this, the landfill discharges

CASE HISTORIES

11.13 Aerial view of Fresh Kills landfill circa 1943 showing

marine unloading plant and barges (courtesy of the Municipal
Archives of the City of New York).
at least four million liters of leachate into New York Harbor every
day. The tides ebb back and forth at the bottom of the landfill unceasingly, helping to promote biodegradation and leachate generation. A leachate mitigation program was initiated in the early 1990s.
A new leachate treatment plant with the capacity to treat 750,000
liters of leachate per day has been operating since January 1994 to
help prevent surface and groundwater contamination (New York
City Department of Sanitation, 1994a). The plant is designed to remove ammonia, organic matter, and several metals, which are the
primary contaminants in the leachate. Work is in progress to expand the leachate treatment capacity to 3.8 million liters per day
so that all leachate from the active sections of the landfill will be
treated. Leachate from closed sections of the landfill is not being
treated, since those sections have been capped and it is anticipated
that their leachate generation will decrease.
There are also concerns regarding the stability of the landfill
because of its great height. Several hundred borings were drilled
through the bottom of the landfill to determine the nature of foundation soils and to collect samples for laboratory testing (New York
City Department of Sanitation, 1994b). Numerous analyses of soil and

195

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THE WASTE CRISIS

slope stability were performed. In addition, 90 stability-monitoring

instruments have been installed which are connected to an automatic data-acquisition system that allows continuous monitoring
and assessment of the data. Three types of instruments are used:
piezometers measure how fast water is draining from the soils
information necessary to calculate stresses; inclinometers measure
changes in the shape and compression of soils and refuse; and temperature sensors measure the heat rise in the landfill, which affects
the other measurements, as well as soil behavior. These data provide confirmation that the soils and landfill are behaving as predicted. Seismic stability studies have also been conducted.
It is estimated that the Fresh Kills Landfill emits 1.7 million
standard cubic meters per day (MSCMD) of landfill gas, of which
slightly more than half is methane. Approximately 2,800 cubic
meters per day are odor-causing gases, primarily volatile organic
compounds. A major gas management program has been instituted
which includes more than 160 continuous methane monitors in
on-site buildings, seals installed along underground utility pipes
to prevent gas migration, and more than 3.4 kilometers of vent
trenches installed around the perimeter of the site to prevent migration of gases off-site (New York City Department of Sanitation,
1994c).
About 0.28 MSCMD (or 17 percent of the total] of landfill gas is
collected from approximately 100 wells over 160 hectares (400
acres) of the landfill and processed. The refined pipeline-quality gas
(0.14 MSCMD) is sold to the Brooklyn Union Gas Company, a local
utility. This initiative, which generates close to $1 million per year
in revenue as well as protecting the environment, will be expanded
throughout the landfill in the next few years.
Fresh Kills is scheduled to close in the year 2001. At that time
state regulations require that it be capped with clay and covered with
0.75 meters of earth. The New York City Department of Sanitation
is required to monitor the cap and manage the gas and leachate
collection systems for 30 years following closure. Currently, more
than 50 hectares (120 acres) have been closed, capped, and covered.
The New York Department of Sanitation is working with landscape
architects and horticulturists to refurbish the landscape into something both beautiful and useful (Duffy, 1994). Studies are being
conducted to identify plant varieties that need little maintenance,
will adapt to the landfill's unique conditions, and will encourage
use of the area as wildlife habitat.

CASE HISTORIES 1

After recycling, about two-thirds of New York's waste (about

7,700 tonnes per day) goes to Fresh Kills Landfill. One-third (about
3,800 tonnes per day) is being exported to landfills in Virginia and
Pennsylvania. None is being incinerated.
This leaves New York City with very few options: NIMBY will
not let them site new landfills; there is strong opposition to incinerators; and recycling can divert but a fraction of the waste.
Once Fresh Kills Landfill is closed in 2001, all waste will have
to be exported, leaving New York City in a very vulnerable position. It will be reliant on the willingness of other communities to
accept its waste. With increasing population and with growing concern about the environmental impact of landfills, it can only be a
matter of time before communities close their doors to outside waste.
Better solutions are desperately needed.

A Modern Nonhazardous Landfill: East Carbon

A state-of-the-art landfill has been constructed in East Carbon, Utah,

by ECDC Environmental, a subsidiary of Laidlaw Environmental
Services (ECDC Environmental, undated). This case history was
selected because it offers a contrast to the Fresh Kills Landfill.
Whereas Fresh Kills is located in a tidal marsh, the East Carbon
landfill is in a dry, arid inland site (see Fig. 11.14). Fresh Kills is
surrounded by a large urban population; East Carbon is in a sparsely

11.14 Location of East Carbon landfill.

198

THE WASTE CRISIS

populated region. But most significant, Fresh Kills has no bottom

liner and has only slowly heen incorporating engineered features
such as leachate collection and treatment. In contrast, East Carbon
has been designed from the outset to include the latest engineered
technologies, including a multilayer liner.
However, there is one marked similarityboth landfills deal
with enormous volumes of waste. In the case of Fresh Kills Landfill, the large size arose by default because it was impossible to
site other landfills in New York City. The ECDC landfill, however,
has been designed from the outset to receive enormous volumes
of waste.
Completed in 1992, the facility is within the city limits of East
Carbon, approximately 225 kilometers southeast of Salt Lake City,
in arid high-desert terrain. East Carbon has a population of about
1,400, with coal mining as its primary industry. Initially, there was
a vocal group opposed to the town's annexing the land on which
the landfill was to be built. A legal suit was launched to stop the
process, but it was turned down by the district court. An appeal to
the Supreme Court led to the case being returned to district court.
In June 1994 a referendum was held in East Carbon; 87% of the
voters were in favor of the landfill operation.
The East Carbon landfill has been designed for nonhazardous
wastes and can accept municipal solid waste, nonhazardous industrial waste, sewage sludge, asbestos, petroleum-contaminated soils,
and ash from incineration of municipal solid waste. At the time this
book was written, the landfill was receiving mostly industrial waste.
The East Carbon landfill is unique in that, unlike virtually all
other landfills, it is not situated in or adjacent to the urban centers
it serves. The location was chosen for its favorable geologic and
groundwater features, rather than on the basis of convenience. The
landfill is in a relatively sparsely populated area and will rely on
waste being transported to it over considerable distance. Thus, this
landfill is an example of what may develop in the future: a wellsited large regional facility serving many urban centers.
Rail haulage is a key part of the East Carbon landfill. The site is
linked by a 5.6-kilometer rail spur to the nation's railway system,
providing economical accessibility for its customers. The landfill
is becoming a national resource: it receives wastes from many major
centers such as Boston and San Francisco, which are thousands of
kilometers distant.
More than 15 kilometers of rail track are installed on the property, and more than 500 railcars and more than 900 containers are

CASE HISTORIES

owned or leased by ECDC Environmental. The system permits efficient unloading of containers, bottom dumping of railcar hoppers,
and rotary dumping of open-top railcars. Figure 11.15 shows railway containers being unloaded onto trucks for delivery to the landfill face.
An area of 960 hectares (2,400 acres) has been permitted for landfill development, with a total capacity of more than 140 million
cubic meters. The disposal area is divided into 29 cells of about 32
hectares (80 acres) each. Each cell will be excavated to a depth of 6
meters and the removed soils used to build a 12-meter berm around
the cell. Thus, each cell will have a depth of 18 meters and will
contain some 4.6 million cubic meters of waste. The landfill will
probably have an operating lifetime of 50 or more years. At the time
of writing, two disposal cells had been constructed and waste was
being received at a rate of almost 2 million tonnes per year. An aerial
view of the landfill is shown in Figure 11.16.
The bottom of each cell will be lined with 1.7 meters of natural
and engineered materials to form an impervious barrier. This barrier includes about 0.9 meters of compacted clay, two high-density
polyethylene liners, and about 0.6 meters of specially screened
waste material as protective cover. In addition, the barrier system
contains two leachate detection and collection systems to provide

11.15 Containers are unloaded from rail cars for transfer to the
landfill face at East Carbon, Utah (courtesy of Brian Kearney, Inc.).

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THE WASTE CRISIS

11.16 Aerial view of the ECDC landfill, East Carbon, Utah (courtesy of Brian Kearney, Inc.).
extra safety through redundancy. Their purpose is to detect leaks
in the liner system and allow leachate to be removed while preventive actions are taken. (A schematic cross-section of this barrier
system is shown in Figure 7.5.) This is a very elaborate liner system; it exceeds the requirements for a nonhazardous landfill and
meets or exceeds the requirements for even a hazardous landfill.
After each cell is filled to capacity, it will be capped with a lowdensity polyethylene liner and an additional 0.6 meters of soil.
Native plants will be used to revegetate the cell cover to provide
stability and prevent erosion.
The climate and geology at East Carbon provide a good setting
for landfill operations. With an average of 28 centimeters of precipitation per year, coupled with an evaporation rate of 120 centimeters per year, there is very little potential for leachate generation
from precipitation. Furthermore, the landfill sits on a 450-meterthick layer of claylike Mancos shale. The water table is at a considerable depth, 1,650 meters below the landfill. However, a perched
water table is located about 21 meters below the site. The combination of very deep water tables and low precipitation makes it difficult for water to infiltrate into the landfill and for contaminants to
migrate away from the site by groundwater transport, even if they
were able to escape from the double liner system. Groundwater
monitoring wells have been installed to depths of about 24 to 27
meters in three locations upgradient of the site in terms of groundwater flow, and in three locations on the site surrounding the two
disposal cells that have been constructed to date.

CASE HISTORIES

No plans have been made for methane extraction, perhaps because of the lack of a nearby market for this energy source.
After the landfill has reached capacity, it will be closed and
sealed, and a monitoring program implemented for a 30-year period. Although definite plans will not be made until nearer the closure time, it is currently envisaged that the site will revert to use
for cattle grazing.

An Open Pit Megaproject: Eagle Mountain Landfill

This case history illustrates several important new developments

in landfill evolution. The first is the emerging use of disused mines
for waste disposal. Not only will an otherwise despoiled landscape
be reclaimed; in addition, some abandoned mines can contain much
larger volumes of garbage than conventional landfills. Second, with
the increasing difficulty of siting new landfills, especially in urbanized areas, rail transport is gaining importance for hauling waste to
larger landfills in more remote areas. The Eagle Mountain landfill
in California's Mojave Desert is a good example of both these trends.
It will serve as a regional landfill for seven counties, including the
Los Angeles area, to which it is connected by rail. Its vast size will
accommodate up to a mind-boggling 635 million tonnes of waste,
about five times the size of Fresh Kills Landfill in New York City.
The project is situated in the foothills of the Eagle Mountains
near the town of Eagle Mountain in Riverside County, about 320
kilometers east of Los Angeles (see Fig. 11.17). It is jointly owned
by Mine Reclamation Corporation and Kaiser Eagle Mountain, Inc.,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Kaiser Resources, Inc. (Mine Reclamation Corporation, 1995). The latter company mined iron ore
from four pits from 1947 until closure in the mid-1980s. The largest
pit, one of the biggest in the country, is a vast scar on the landscape: it occupies 320 hectares (800 acres), stretches four kilometers in length and 0.8 kilometer in width, and is 460 meters deep.
The pit is shown in Figure 11.18. The landfill includes an additional
520 hectares (1,300 acres) plus abuffer zone of 800 hectares (2,000
acres).
An attraction of the site is the 85-kilometer rail spur that was
already in place, linking the mine to the Southern Pacific rail system. In addition, there is existing infrastructure of utilities and roads.
A considerable amount of clay and gravel remains from the mining
days and can be used in temporary roads and the bottom liner sys-

201

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THE WASTE CRISIS

11.17 Location of Eagle Mountain landfill.

tern, as well as for daily cover and final capping, thus minimizing
the environmental impact of accessing virgin materials.
The landfill is being permitted as a nonhazardous municipal solid
waste landfill and will receive refuse from southern California. No
out-of-state waste will be accepted. An important part of the operation is that all wastes must first pass through materials recovery
facilities where recyclable and hazardous materials will be removed.
The wastes will be transported primarily by rail using sealed and
locked containers, although some road transport will be used to

TASF HISTORIFS

11.18 Aerial view of the former Eagle Mountain mine (courtesy of

Mine Reclamation Corporation).
serve the area close to the landfill. The wastes will undergo further
inspection once they reach the landfill.
The landfill's footprint will cover approximately 840 hectares
(2,100 acres), and the buffer and ancillary areas will occupy another
800 hectares (2,000 acres). Up to 18,000 tonnes of compacted waste
will arrive daily. With a total capacity of about 610 million tonnes,
the site has an expected lifetime of more than 100 years. Once in
operation, Eagle Mountain will be the largest-capacity landfill in
the world (Mine Reclamation, 1995).

2O3

204

THE WASTE CRISIS

The landfill is undergoing a lengthy permitting process and is

expected to be in operation by late 2000 at the earliest. Six public
hearings have already been held, with one more scheduled. Issues
raised in the permitting process include potential negative effects
on the delicate desert environment, which includes the habitat of
the endangered desert tortoise, and on nearby Joshua Tree National
Monument. The proponent has been asked to analyze the impact
of seismic activity on the landfill, including the effect on the liner
system. An interesting commitment that was negotiated with the
proponent was that clean-burning natural-gas engines would be used
on the trains that haul refuse to the facility.
The geology in the immediate vicinity consists of two major
formations. The foothills are composed of ancient granite and
rnetamorphic bedrock. The adjacent valley consists of alluvial
sands, silts, and gravels. The landfill is situated primarily in the
bedrock, although the eastern portion of the site lies in the alluvial materials. Investigations have shown that there are no recent
(within the past 11,000 years) faults located on or near the site.
The site has several features that enhance environmental protection. The annual rainfall in this desert region is a sparse 7.5 centimeters, and much of that evaporates before it has a chance to seep
underground. Furthermore, the groundwater table is located 15 to
82 meters below the landfill bottom, depending on location. The
groundwater, which is of the calcium-magnesium sulphate type, is
contained in fractures in the bedrock and flows to the south and
southeast.
To further isolate the wastes from the groundwater system, 2.4
meters of liner is being placed on the mine floor, consisting of clay
and two layers of 2.0-mm (80-mil) high-density polyethylene. The
system incorporates a collection system so that any leachate accumulating at the bottom of the landfill can be removed immediately
via 10 sumps placed at low points in the landfill. Underlying the liner
is an unsaturated leachate monitoring system which is designed to
detect and collect any liquids that migrate through the liner. It consists of a collection zone, a 2.0-mm (80-mil) HDPE liner, and a clay
liner. EPA test models indicate that with the low rainfall in the region, leachate will probably not form, much less leak from the landfill. The liner system exceeds all state and federal requirements and
is considered to be unprecedented for a municipal nonhazardous
solid waste landfill in California (Mine Reclamation, 1995).
The landfill is designed to handle the large volume of landfill
gas that will be generated as the garbage biodegrades. The gas will

CASE HISTORIES

be collected by a series of horizontal pipes and vertical wells built

into the waste which carry the gas to a flare, where it will be burned
at temperatures exceeding 780C. At this point, there is no plan to
use the methane to generate electricity, although this decision will
be reconsidered at a later date.
About a thousand hectares of unused land will be returned to
the Bureau of Land Management as the site is progressively completed over the coming decades. The mining scar will be restored
to its natural state by adding native flora to the final cover, which
will consist of about 0.6 meters of compacted soil, a very-lowdensity polyethylene layer, 0.3 meters of granular soil on top of a
geotextile cushion, and an erosion-prevention layer of cobbles and
boulders. Comprehensive monitoringconsisting of perimeter
wells, leak detection below the landfill, and air sampling on all four
sideswill continue for at least 30 years after closure.
Eagle Mountain is one of three new waste disposal megaprojects
planned for southern California. In the second project, Waste Manage
ment of North America, Inc., will ship waste by rail in double-stacked
modular containers to a landfill in the Mojave Desert near the town
of Amboy. The site occupies 11.7 square kilometers, and its capacity
is similar to that of Eagle Mountain. In the third, Western Waste Industries, Inc., plans to place municipal waste into disused parts of a
gold mine in Imperial County. The facility will contain up to 365
million tonnes of refuse and will have a lifetime of about 40 years.
Waste haulage by rail will be a key part of the operation.
Landfills are essential for managing California's waste because
there is fierce public opposition to incinerators. In the past, southern California has relied on numerous landfills near the urban centers they serve. The trend now is toward a few remote mega-landfills,
which are regional in scope and rely on rail haulage to deal with
the large volumes of waste and great distances involved. This is a
trend that will probably be seen throughout North America.

An Integrated Hazardous Waste Facility: Swan Hills

Let us now turn to a hazardous waste disposal facility. In the United

States, hazardous wastes are concentrated, put into drums, and
buried either in one of 21 specially designed commercial hazardous waste landfills, or in one of 35 similar landfills operated by
companies for their own hazardous waste (Miller, 1997). In Canada,
three major landfills are licensed for hazardous wastes: the Swan

205

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Hills Treatment Centre near Swan Hills, Alberta; the Laidlaw Environmental Services facility near Sarnia, Ontario; and the Stablex
Canada, Inc., facility in Blainville, Quebec. The first two facilities
also incinerate waste.
The Swan Hills Treatment Centre, situated in Swan Hills, Alberta,
about 210 kilometers northeast of Edmonton (see Figure 11.19), is
the most comprehensive hazardous waste treatment and disposal
facility in North America. It is a fully integrated operation which
can incinerate organic liquids and solids, treat inorganic liquids and
solids, and provide landfill disposal of contaminated solids or deepwell injection disposal of contaminated liquids. The facility has
been one of the few to have overcome the NIMBY syndrome in recent times, and it serves as a case study in how to site waste management facilities. (This subject is addressed further in chapter 12.)
The facility is owned and operated by Chem-Security (Alberta), Ltd.
Originally ownership was in a joint venture arrangement with the
province of Alberta, but the province recently sold its share of the
venture to Chem-Security.

11.19

Location of Swan Hills, Alberta.

CASE HISTORIES

Opened in 1987, the facility handles all types of hazardous wastes

except pathogenic, explosive, or radioactive materials. It can process more than 100,000 tonnes of waste annually. Advanced receiving, storage, and feed preparation systems facilitate the efficient
handling and processing of liquids, solids, and sludges. A view of
the facility is shown in Figure 11.20. Originally intended solely for
provincial use, Swan Hills opened its doors to hazardous wastes
from the rest of Canada in February 1995.
The Swan Hills facility is the central component of a comprehensive hazardous waste management system for the province,
which includes a transportation network and waste transfer and
storage facilities in two other locations in Alberta, as well as an
extensive program that encourages waste recycling and on-site waste
reduction (Rabe, 1994b).
Incineration and Waste Treatment

Organic wastes such as oil, solvents, and PCBs are treated by hightemperature incineration to achieve 99.9999% destruction of hazardous materials. Two rotary kilns are available. The larger one has

11.20 Aerial view of Alberta Special Waste Management facility

(courtesy of Chem-Security (Alberta), Ltd).

207

208

THE WASTE CRISIS

a capacity of 35,000 tonnes per year and operates in either an ashing

or a slagging mode; the latter renders the residue into a solidified
matrix. The smaller incinerator, which allows some waste streams
such as soils to he treated more cost-effectively, has a capacity of
8,000 tonnes per year and operates only in the ash mode. The equipment includes a spray drier, activated carbon injection, baghouse,
saturator, and high-energy scrubber. Combustion gases pass through
a high-performance flue gas cleaning system which removes acid
gases and solid particulates. The ash from the incineration process
is rendered inert, undergoes leachate testing, and is landfilled in
secure cells or disposed of by deep-well injection (Chem-Security,
undated).
Inorganic wastes such as acids, alkalis, and heavy-metal-bearing
materials are treated by various physical/chemical processes: neutralization, the addition of acids or bases to the waste stream to create neutral salt solutions; chemical oxidation/reduction, in which
appropriate oxidizing or reducing agents are added to the waste
stream to break chemical bonds and convert hazardous components
into simpler, less toxic substances; and precipitation, the use of
chemical flocculation techniques to separate solids from the liquid
component of the solution. The materials resulting from these processes may be sent to a filter press which further separates solids
from liquids.
The solid residue, or filter cake, is transferred to a stabilization
and solidification plant for analysis and stabilization with appropriate binders and additives. Stabilized wastes are cured for 4 to
28 days, then undergo a leachate test; if they pass, they are placed
into landfill.
Given the complexity of the operation, it is understandable that
it has suffered occasional operating problems. In 1997, elevated
concentrations of PCBs were detected by the environmental monitoring program in off-site air and vegetation samples. The sources
were found to be outdoor transformer processing, mechanical failure of a transformer furnace, and fugitive emissions from a tank farm
and storage buildings. These processes were immediately shut down
and preventive measures put in place (Turner, 1998).
Deep-Well Disposal

Liquid wastes from the treatment facilities and leachate from disposal cells are treated to reach levels prescribed by regulatory agencies and then disposed by injection into one of two on-site wells

CASE HISTORIES

approximately 1,800 meters deep. The waste fluids are injected into
a brine aquifer that is well helow the level of any usahle waterbearing horizons. Deep-well injection is suited to Alberta because
of the expertise and equipment available in the oil-exploration industry, where drilling fluids and associated wastes are commonly
disposed of in deep brine aquifers. Deep-well injection is not widely
used in the rest of Canada; for example, it was originally used at
the Laidlaw hazardous waste facility near Sarnia, Ontario, and by
chemical industries in that area, but the practice was discontinued
in the late 1970s.
Landfill Disposal

The cornerstone of the Swan Hills Treatment Centre is the secure

and final disposal of treated wastes into landfill cells. These cells
are built into a thick clay layer which underlies the site. The facility is licensed as a secure landfill for hazardous wastes. The bottom of each cell is lined with a multilayer containment barrier consisting of two high-density polyethylene (HDPE) liners as well as
protective geotextile and geogrid layers. Above this liner is a leachate
collection system consisting of a sump and piping system so that
liquids can be extracted, should any accumulate.
As an additional safeguard, a leachate monitoring system is placed
between the two polyethylene layers to check for leaks. Both the
leachate-extraction and leak-detection systems are constantly monitored. In addition, an engineered groundwater collection system is
installed below each cell to minimize external forces on the cell
liners.
During operation, the cell is enclosed under a tentlike temporary
structure (see Fig. 11.21) which prevents precipitation from entering the cell and facilitates operation during the cold winter months.
The temporary cover is removed once the cell has been closed and
capped.
When filled to capacity, a cell is covered with a HDPE membrane
which is thermally bonded to the inner cell liner to form a complete watertight membrane around the wastes. In addition, the cell
is covered with one meter of compacted low-permeability clay. The
clay cap is subsequently dressed with topsoil and vegetated to prevent erosion and improve its esthetic appearance. Closed cells are
monitored through a system of external groundwater monitoring
wells as well as by the leak-detection system and underlying groundwater collection pipes (Chem-Security, undated).

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THE WASTE CRISIS

11.21 Construction of a secure landfill nears completion under a

tent at Swan Hills Treatment Centre (courtesy of Chem-Security
(Alberta) Ltd).

Although the Swan Hills hazardous waste landfill and the East
Carbon municipal waste landfill deal with different categories of
waste, there are several similarities in their design and operation.
Both facilities are situated in relatively sparsely populated areas and
are designed to serve wide geographic regions. The two landfills are
similar in design, consisting of cells with elaborate multi-component
covers and liners to prevent leachate escape. The East Carbon landfill will contain about 50 times more waste on completion than the
Swan Hills landfill.
The major difference between the two facilities is the capability
of Swan Hills to treat wastes prior to disposal. The East Carbon facility, like virtually all municipal waste landfills, essentially provides only a disposal service; wastes are emplaced in the form they
are received, after sorting for recyclables. In contrast, Swan Hills
also provides incineration and sophisticated waste treatment processes, as well as waste stabilization prior to disposal. In other
words, the facilities at a hazardous waste disposal site are elaborate and sophisticated so that the hazard of the wastes can be eliminated or reduced to the greatest extent possible. Disposal is used

CASE HISTORIES

only if no other treatment alternatives are available, and the wastes

are encapsulated into a stable cementitious form prior to disposal.
In fact, the landfill can be viewed as ancillary to the primary activity of waste treatment.
The Inorganic Waste Dilemma

Because treatment processesprimarily incinerationdestroy organics, the majority of waste that is placed into landfill at a hazardous waste facility is inorganic. As discussed in chapter 6, this waste
will not decay to innocuous forms over time: it will remain hazardous forever. Thus, hazardous waste landfills should be designed
and constructed to provide containment in perpetuity. This has
important implications.
All of North America's major hazardous waste landfills are surface facilities that are exposed to ongoing weathering, erosion, and
freeze/thaw cycles, which will unrelentingly erode the surface
covers of these facilities. Thus, perpetual monitoring and maintenance of the covers will be required.
In addition, synthetic materials like polyethylene liners will
eventually degrade and deteriorate. Because such materials are
unlikely to provide protection for more than about 50 to 100 years,
it is inevitable that at some future time these barrier systems will
fail and the liners will leak. Other engineered features such as drainage and leachate collection systems also have limited lifetimes.
The design and regulation of hazardous waste landfills is generally focused on a period of a few decades to a century or so after closure. Planners do not recognize that maintenance is required in perpetuity. This places a significant responsibility and burden on future
generations and is not consistent with sustainable development.

Nuclear Waste Disposal: The High-Tech Approach

The next case history describes a revolutionary departure from the

classic landfill approach that was developed by Sweden for its lowlevel radioactive wastes.
Nuclear wastes have received more intensive attention than other
waste types, and therefore, approaches to their disposal are more
advanced. The reasons are threefold. First, the nuclear industry is
a high-technology sector and has tackled the problem with a high-

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THE WASTE CRISIS

technology philosophy. Second, the quantity of waste is very small

compared to the economic benefit gained, allowing considerable
financial resources to be applied to the problem. Third, public opinionwhich sees all nuclear matters, including waste management,
as horrifying and hazardoushas applied enormous pressure on the
nuclear industry to be extremely thorough. Public opinion has also
influenced nuclear regulatory agencies to make the requirements
for radioactive wastes more rigorous than for other wastes.
The Swedish "landfill" is called the Swedish Final Repository
and is situated on the country's east coast at the Forsmark Nuclear
Power Station, about 160 kilometers north of Stockholm (see Fig.
11.22). What makes the disposal method unique is, first, that it is
underground, and second, that it is situated under the Baltic Sea
(Carlsson, 1990).
Access to the repository is via two tunnels with their entrances
on land. They slope gently downward for a distance of 1 kilometer
underneath the Baltic Sea. One of the tunnels is dedicated to waste
transportation and is equipped with remotely controlled vehicles.
The repository consists of a large vertical silo (60 meters high
and 30 meters in diameter) and four parallel, horizontal caverns
which are 160 meters long, 14 to 20 meters wide, and up to 18 meters
high. The top of the repository is about 50 meters below the seabed; the depth of the Baltic Sea in this area is about 5 meters. A
schematic view of the facility is shown in Figure 11.23.
Construction began in 1983, and the repository started to accept
wastes in April 1988. A second phase is planned to add another silo
and one or two horizontal caverns in about the year 2000. The facility will take all the low-level and intermediate-level radioactive
waste generated in Sweden until approximately the year 2010 (SKB,
n.d.). The total facility is designed to contain approximately 90,000
cubic meters of waste. This is less than 5% of the capacity of a single
medium-sized municipal landfill (2 million cubic meters), illustrating the small volume of nuclear waste.
The placement of the repository under the sea is an ingenious
idea and has several advantages over the standard landfill. First,
only a minimal amount of surface land is required for administrative buildings, and this becomes available for other beneficial uses
once the repository is closed. In addition, the wastes are effectively
entombed beneath 50 meters of solid rock. This prevents erosion
and other forces of nature from slowly degrading the integrity of the
facility, so ongoing maintenance will not be necessary after the repository has been closed. The thick layers of rock and sea also form

CASE HISTORIES

11.22 Location of Swedish underground low-level radioactive

waste repository.
an effective deterrent against future human intrusion, either intentional or accidental. Finally, in the event that there was some leakage from the repository, it would enter the seawater and would not
impair any drinking-water resources.
A box within a box within a box within a box, the Swedish Final
Repository was designed to prevent radioactive materials from escaping to the environment in harmful quantities, even long after the facility has been closed. This has been achieved by surrounding the
wastes with a number of barriers, both natural and engineered.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

11.23 Schematic view of the Swedish underground low-level

radioactive waste repository.
The first barrier is the waste form itself. Before transportation to
the repository, the waste is mixed with cement or asphalt and placed
in concrete or metal containers. Other wastes that contain some
entrained liquids are placed in concrete tanks and dewatered. Less
radioactive wastes are compacted into bales or metal drums and
placed in steel freight containers. Incinerator ash is immobilized into
concrete in metal drums. In comparison, nonradioactive municipal
or industrial wastes rarely receive immobilization or pretreatment
prior to disposal.
The silo, which has 0.8-meter-thick reinforced-concrete walls,
contains the most highly radioactive materials, while materials of
lower radioactivity are placed in the tunnels. The space between
the concrete silo and the rock wall is filled with bentonite clay,
which expands when it becomes wet and will provide a protective
barrier against the escape of radioactive contaminants. The concrete

CASE HISTORIES

silo provides another barrier. The inside of the silo has been divided
into square vertical pits into which waste containers are lowered
from the top. As each layer of waste is emplaced, it is grouted permanently into place with concrete; this grout provides another barrier. Thus, the engineered barriers consist of the immobilized waste
form, grout, the silo wall, and the bentonite layer. Similar barrier
systems are used in the four horizontal caverns, with some variations depending on the level of radioactivity of the wastes.
The surrounding rock mass provides an additional important
barrier. It consists of the very hard, insoluble rocks of the Baltic
Shield, which have been shown through an intensive exploratory
program to have very few cracks and fissures and to have low hydraulic conductivity. This kind of rock contains only small amounts
of groundwater which travels slowly. The "box within a box within
a box" concept is shown schematically in Figure 11.24.
The wastes inside the Swedish Final Repository will decay to
about the same level of radioactivity as the surrounding rocks in
about 500 years. Less than 10% of the radioactivity will remain after
100 years. This is of the same order of time that it takes for the
organic compounds to decompose in a municipal or industrial
landfill. It is interesting that the hazardous lifetimes of municipal/
industrial landfills and the Swedish repository are comparable, yet
the approach to containing the wastes over this timespan are quite
different.

11.24 Waste containment in a box within a box within a box.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

It should be noted that this facility is only for low-level and

intermediate-level radioactive wastes. High-level nuclear wastes,
which contain much higher levels of radioactivity and have a much
longer hazardous lifetime, will be disposed of in similar underground caverns but at a greater depth of about 500 meters.
The Swedish approach differs dramatically from what has historically been done in waste disposal. Why did they choose this
particular concept? What lessons can be learned?
The two approaches are compared in Table 11.1. It is important
to realize that the hazards contained in the two types of disposal
facility are fairly similar. As we saw in chapter 6, the contents of
municipal landfills are by no means benign. The concentration of
hazardous substances in municipal and industrial landfills is considerably lower than in radioactive wastes; however, the total volumes of municipal wastes are much higher. When concentration is
multiplied by volume to obtain the total hazard, the two types of
disposal facility do not differ greatly. It is interesting to note that,
although the biological effects of the two types of waste are similar,
the public views nuclear waste with considerably more fear.
Radioactive wastes will be contained in multiple barriers that
make the contamination of groundwater very unlikely, whereas
surface landfills have a high potential for leakage at some point
during their hazardous lifetime. The Swedish repository utilizes

Table 11.1. Comparison of a typical municipal/industrial landfill

with the Swedish Final Repository.

Hazard level
Hazard decreases
with time
Hazardous lifetime
Capacity
Number of facilities
Waste containment
Ongoing maintenance
Other benefits
Potential to pollute
air/groundwater

Typical Landfill

Swedish Repository

Medium
Yes, organic
decomposition
Organics: 100
to 200 years
Inorganics: forever
Up to a few
million m3
Thousands
Cover and liner

Medium
Yes, radioactive decay

Yes
Energy from methane
High

200 to 500 years

90,000 m3
One for all Sweden
Multiple barriers:
concrete, bentonite,
50 m of rock, ocean
No
None
Very low

CASE HISTORIES

only minimal land surface and places no burden on future generations. In a nutshell, the Swedish approach is inherently safer and
more attuned to the principles of sustainable development than its
counterpart, the surface landfill. It is a bit of an enigma why the two
waste types are dealt with so differently.
How has this happened? There appear to be two reasons. First,
the Swedish program started from scratch with the specific objective of devising a safe disposal system. In contrast, the landfill has
evolved slowly, with its earliest primary motivation being convenience rather than safety. The modern landfill carries with it
genetic, inherited flaws. Another factor is the large disparity between the volumes of the two kinds of waste. The very small quantities of radioactive wastes have made it possible to spend large
sums of money on research and planning to develop the undersea
concept.
Two important lessons emerge from this case history. First, disposal of wastes deep underground has a number of significant benefits. Second, if waste volumes are relatively small, more sophisticated disposal alternatives become feasible. This emphasizes the
importance of reduction, recycling, reuse, and treatment programs
to decrease the volumes of municipal and hazardous wastes that
must go to disposal. Such programs are vital if safe disposal methods
are to be developed.

Burn Baby Burn: The Lancaster County Incinerator

Tucked into the rolling agricultural countryside of southern Pennsylvania is a large, modern building with clean lines and pleasantly
landscaped grounds. Only its 93-meter stack gives a clue that this
is the Lancaster County municipal waste incinerator. Figure 11.25
shows the location, and Figure 11.26 is an aerial view of the facility.
In 1986, the rapidly increasing amount of refuse led the Lancaster
County Solid Waste Management Authority to adopt an integrated
waste management system using the latest technologies and methods.
With a population of more than 420,000 in a largely agricultural
region, a prime goal was to save valuable farmland by decreasing
reliance on landfills.
The integrated system is based on three main components: recycling/reduction, incineration, and landfilling. Landfilling was
designated the choice of last resort, with the intent of using only
one landfill in the county and making it last as long as possible.

217

11.25 Location of Lancaster County waste incinerator.

11.26 Aerial view of Lancaster County waste incinerator (courtesy

of Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority).

CASE HISTORIES

The authority felt that its objectives could not be met by recycling alone, so an important component of the strategy was incineration. Ogden Martin, Inc., a major international supplier of municipal mass-burn incinerators, was selected to provide the plant.
The Lancaster County incinerator (Lancaster County Solid Waste
Management Authority, n.d.; Flosdorf & Alexieff, 1993) is one of
28 Ogden Martin incinerators in the United States, with several
hundred elsewhere in the world.
Licensing of the Lancaster County incinerator took 2 years. The
final site in Conoy Township was one of 15 sites that were originally considered. A license application, including an environmental impact statement, was submitted to the regulatory agency, the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources; this detailed the operation of the facility, its air and water emissions, and
other impacts on the local environment, such as traffic and noise.
As happens with the proposed construction of any major facility
today, opposition was raised by some local citizens and activist
groups. Most of the complaints involved the potential impact of
increased truck traffic. A traffic study was undertaken that included
assessing the feasibility of using rail transport. Disposal of ash was
also an issue with the public.
Groundbreaking took place in March 1989, and just over 2 years
later, in May 1991, commercial operation of the plant commenced.
The incinerator was designed and built by Ogden Martin Systems
of Lancaster, Inc., which also operates the plant; it is owned by the
authority. In 1997, six years into the plant's 35-year design lifetime,
the authority was very pleased with its performance.
The incinerator is a mass-burn type, based on German technology and consisting of three identical boilers. (A schematic crosssection of the incinerator is shown in Figure 9.1.) Waste arriving at
the site is weighed at the scale house and the information is entered
into a computer system. The waste is then dumped onto the tipping
floor, where it is inspected by trained compliance officers before being pushed into a large pit with a capacity of 3,960 tonnes.
Overhead cranes use giant grapples to mix waste in the pit to dry
and homogenize it. The waste then goes onto grates in the furnace.
The waste burns for about 45 minutes while traveling down the inclined grates, which also agitate the waste. Propane is used to start
the incinerator and also (infrequently) when the waste is wet and
supplemental heat is required to reach the necessary temperature.
Air is blown under and around the waste to ensure complete combustion. It is a regulatory requirement that combustion must pro-

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THE WASTE CRISIS

ceed at a minimum of 1,000C. The ash that reaches the bottom of

the grate drops into a trough where it is quenched with water.
Managing the gases produced by combustion is an important
feature of the incinerator. By the time the gases leave the boiler, their
temperature has dropped to about 235C. The gases then pass into
a dry scrubber (one for each furnace), where they are injected with
a lime slurry to neutralize acid gases such as sulphur oxides and
hydrogen chloride. Next, the gases enter a fabric filter baghouse (one
for each furnace) for removal of particulate matter. The scrubbers
and baghouses are shown in Figure 11.27. The remaining gases then
are discharged through the 93-meter-tall stack.
The plant is operated from a control room equipped with four
independent computer systems, one for each furnace plus one backup. The operators can view different parts of the facility by using
remote video cameras.
Ash from the dry scrubber and the baghouse (fly ash) is mixed
with hydrated lime and water to prevent escaping dust and is then
combined with the ash from the grates (bottom ash). This is sent to
a residue building where a rotating-drum magnet removes ferrous
metal for recycling. The ash, which represents 10% by volume of
the original waste, is sent for disposal at Lancaster County's landfill.

11.27 Rear of incinerator with scrubbers, baghouses, and silo for

storing lime.

CASE HISTORIES

Steel tubes containing water form the inside walls of the so-called
"waterwall furnace." Water inside these tubes is converted to steam,
which is further heated in a superheater before it drives turbinegenerators to create up to 35.7 megawatts of electricity (4 to 5 megawatts are used to power the plant).
The plant, which has a capacity to burn 1,100 tonnes of refuse
per day, operates 24 hours a day. Major maintenance is performed
during spring and fall outages that last about 7 to 10 days. The incinerator generally averages less than 10% downtime.
Pollution Control

The facility consumes 1.9 million liters of water per day for steam
production, cooling, ash quenching, and other uses. A nearby sewage treatment plant supplies the water, which was previously discharged to the Susquehanna River. The water on site is treated and
recycledno wastewater leaves the site. Two ponds with a total
capacity of 9.5 million liters store treated water.
Effective and complete combustion is the most direct way to
prevent airborne contaminants. This is achieved in the furnaces by

Supplying adequate airthat is, oxygen

Maintaining temperatures above 1,000C
Ensuring that waste is burned for a sufficient time
Mixing the waste during combustion

When proper combustion conditions are maintained, over 99%

of the combustion gas leaving the boilers is composed of oxygen,
nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water. The remaining 1% of the gas
consists of various pollutants. Pollution-control equipment includes
dry scrubbers and baghouses. A continuous emission-monitoring
system samples and analyzes stack emissions and automatically
adjusts the pollution-control equipment. Combustion efficiency,
carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen oxides, opacity, and
temperature are monitored. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources has ongoing, real-time computer access to
these data via a modem link.
The operating emission parameters that must not be exceeded
are:
Sulfur dioxide: 30 ppm hourly; 29 ppm 3-hourly averages;
90% reduction on an 8-hour average
Carbon monoxide: 200 ppm hourly and 200 ppm 8-hour
average

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Nitrogen oxides: 300 ppm daily average

Opacity: 10% for more than 3 minutes in any hour, never
to exceed 30%
Hydrochloric acid: 30 ppm hourly average, or 90% control
hourlyi.e. removal between economizer and stack
Dioxins and furans: (expressed as 2,3,7,8 TCDD equivalents)
2.0 nanograms per normative cubic meter, with an annual
ambient concentration of 0.03 picograms per cubic meter
as predicted by computer modeling
Particulate matter (particles less than 10 microns in size,
or PM10): 0.353 grams per cubic meter
Particulate matter (total suspended particulates, or TSP):
0.424 grams per cubic meter
Costs

Economic viability is a key issue, since an incinerator involves

complex technology and large up-front costs compared to a landfill. The capital cost of the Lancaster County incinerator, including
design, licensing, and construction, was $105 million. The operating cost is about $9.5 million per year.
User fees finance all of the authority's activities, including the
incinerator. In addition, revenue is earned from the electricity generated, which is purchased by Metropolitan Edison for about 5.7
cents per kilowatt hour. The approximately $12 million (about $17
per tonne of waste) that is earned each year is shared between the
authority (90%) and Ogden Martin (10%). Ferrous metal recovery
earns about $200,000 a year. Additional revenue is earned by incinerating waste from outside the county.
In summary, the authority feels that the overall impact of the
incinerator on the management of waste in Lancaster County is quite
positive. The cost of waste incineration, when electricity is generated and sold, is competitive. Furthermore, waste incineration to
date has worked efficiently, with only about 10% downtime.

Conclusion

A very important outcome is that the incinerator has not impeded

the county's recycling programs, contrary to the predictions of
groups that oppose incinerators. Currently, Lancaster County is
recycling about 31% of its municipal waste, an increase of about
10% over the past five years. In fact, incineration has improved

CASE HISTORIES

overall recycling by recovering ferrous metal that would not otherwise have been reclaimed by the blue-box program. It is clear that
incineration and recycling, when designed and operated as part of
an integrated system, are complementary and form a powerful team
in reducing the amount of waste that is sent to landfill.
Landfill space has also been saved by "mining" and incinerating wastes from the landfill, as discussed in chapter 8. Not only was
a complete cell of 7.2 hectares (18 acres) reclaimed; this activity also
allowed engineers to inspect and improve the liner of the cell, enhancing the protection of the environment.
In 1996, Lancaster County recycled 31% of its waste, incinerated
56%, and landfilled 13%. This is a very impressive achievement.

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. If you were director of New York City's waste management

program, how would you deal with waste after Fresh Kills
Landfill closes in 2001? Explain your ideas.
2. Of the seven case histories, select the facility closest to you,
and contact its management to learn how it has evolved
since the writing of this book. If it is practical, visit the
facility and take a tour.
3. Create your own case history by selecting a nearby waste
management facility of interest. Compile information by
visiting it, obtaining brochures and reports, and interviewing staff.

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12
THE ALL-POWERFUL NIMBY

vJur society has reached a frustrating impasse: everyone wants consumer goods, but nobody wants the associated waste. In all levels
of society from the grass-roots to the highest level of politics, enormous public opposition has developed to siting landfills, incinerators, or transfer stations. With complex judicial and political systems
that promote empowerment of the people, it has become common
for opposition groups to delay or halt altogether the introduction
of new waste management facilities. The NIMBYNot In My Back
Yardsyndrome has become a powerful force.

Acronyms. Express a State of Mind

NIMBY = Not in My Back Yard
NIMTQO = Not In My Term Of Office
LULU m Localy Unacceptable Land Use
BANANA guild Absslutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone
NOPE ~ Not On Planet Earth

This chapter explores the process by which the sites for landfills and related waste facilities are selected. This fascinating topic
goes far beyond technical issues: it provides insight into human
behavior and the ways political decisions are made. An understanding of the NIMBY phenomenon is essential for anyone who wishes
to pursue a career in waste management.
225

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THE WASTE CRISIS

In some regions there is already a crisis. In New Jersey, for example, the number of landfills has dropped from more than 300 to
about a dozen in the past two decades. As a result, more than half
of New Jersey's municipal solid waste must be exported to other
states. In New York state, 298 landfills were closed and only 6 new
ones opened in the decade since 1982. The same story is unfolding
in almost all jurisdictions in North America; the number of landfills in the United States dwindled from 20,000 in 1979 to about
5,300 in 1993 (Miller, 1997). There is a very strong trend toward
fewerbut much biggerlandfills. In the United States it is estimated that 8% of the existing landfills handle 75% of the country's
garbage. As the number of landfills decreases, their heights grow,
casting dark shadows across the land.
There is no doubt that new landfills are safer than old ones: they
are generally better sited and incorporate better engineering and
modern technology such as liners, covers, and leachate and gas
extraction systems. However, people still do not want them next
door. Thus, the few new landfills that are being developed are getting larger and larger; the megadump is the trend of the future.
The difficulty of siting waste facilities has had a number of negative effects. A direct economic spinoff has been an increase in tipping fees. This is simply an expression of the law of supply and
demand: as landfill space scarcer, its cost increases. This in turn
has resulted in a proliferation of illicit waste dumping, the so-called
"midnight tipping."
Environemtal Scarns
Illegal
i or "midnight" dumping proliferates whenever landfill tipping prices

rise. In the mid-1990s, numerous iiegai dumps were established and operated without permits. Regulatory agencies reported that padlocte on gates
were being broken to gain entry to vacant lands for dumping waste. Several
cases have been reported in which warehouses were rented, stuffed full of

waste, and then abandoned

The Causes of NIMBY

The siting process has evolved substantially in the past decade. As

the costs, energy, and frustration of trying to site unwanted facilities have increased, more effort has gone into trying to understand
the NIMBY syndrome. Considerable intellectual effort has been

THE ALL-POWERFUL NIMBY

invested in studying several problems: how to increase public involvement and transparency in the siting process; how to create a
process that builds consensus instead of confrontation; how to disseminate information effectively; and how to design fair compensation programs. As a result, the siting of controversial facilities has
undergone considerable change. For example, it is now routine to
offer host communities comprehensive compensation packages that
include not only economic benefits but also provisions for health
and safety protection and a role in decision-making regarding the
proposed facility. This is quite a turnaround from the days of
" decide-announce-defend."
Yet in spite of these advances, progress has been minimal. Let
us explore why the NIMBY syndrome takes such a powerful grip
on the citizens of involved communities.
First, it must be recognized that landfills and other waste management facilities have a notorious history of leaking and causing environmental problems. For example, one-fifth of all Superfund hazardous waste sites are former municipal landfills (Miller, 1997). Even
though technologies have improved, memories of the past linger.
Furthermore, even with the best pollution-prevention measures,
landfills have other negative aspects, such as truck traffic, flocks of
seagulls, or windblown litter. In other words, the facility itself is
intrinsically unappealing.
But the causes of NIMBY go deeper. A fundamental cause of failure in the siting process is the absence of trust. Often, potential host
communities do not trust the proponents of the siting process, nor
do they have faith in the siting process itself. In many instances,
they do not understand the need for the facility or its detailed engineering aspects. This is particularly true of waste incinerators,
which are technically complex.
This distrust of authority is a phenomenon that pervades contemporary society. It is a natural reaction by individuals against big
government and big business. It is an outwelling of feelinga rebellion by the small, powerless individual against the faceless,
powerful government or large corporation. After all, if these powers
can't control the deficit or crime, why should they be trusted with
this undertaking? There is often a feeling that the facility is being
rammed down the throat of the local community.
Another important factor in the NIMBY phenomenon is a deeprooted psychological trait: fear of the unknown. We live in a complex technological world. There are more than 45,000 different
chemicals in production in our modern industrial society, and this

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THE WASTE CRISIS

bewildering array is very threatening to most people. They do not

understand PCBs, dioxins, DDT, vinyl chloride, and the hundreds
of other chemicals that are sensationally reported in headlines and
are about to wind up in their back yard. It is a natural human tendency to be frightened and cautious of things we do not understand.
The simple solution is to reject the facility and its Pandora's box of
toxic chemicals.
The media and some activist groups are well aware of this aspect of human nature and use sensationalism and scare tactics to
play on this fear. They describe in vivid detail the negative impacts
of scenarios that are highly implausible or could be mitigated.
There are other factors that work against the siting of new waste
management facilities. As human beings we inherently have an
inertia, a natural propensity to continue to live our lives according
to the routines that we have established. Thus, we are naturally
opposed to intrusions that will cause disruption in our lives, even
if their negative effects can be mitigated or compensated.
Spurred by distrust, fear, sensationalism, and disinformation,
conflict almost inevitably arises in a potential host community. Such
conflict is often very divisive and bitter. Frequently, even community members who support the facility may choose to drop out of
the process simply to avoid the unpleasantness.
In summary, there are many valid reasons for the power and
success of the NIMBY syndrome. In particular, the unattractiveness
of waste facilities, combined with an inherent distrust of the proponent and fear of the unknown, can be fanned into a very emotional and divisive atmosphere which ultimately leads to failure of
the process. This concept is illustrated in Figure 12.1.
Before discussing how these difficult hurdles might be overcome
to create a win-win situation, let us look at two case histories of site
selection and the NIMBY syndrome.

Radioactive Waste: NIMBY on the Grandest Scale

There are many instances in which the NIMBY syndrome has

brought projects to a halt, but none can match the epic proportions
of the search for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal sites
in the United States. This exercise has been dragging on for the past
two decades. The economic cost alone has been staggering, with
hundreds of millions of dollars squandered in a fruitless effort to
find disposal sites. It has been a nationwide drama, with a cast of

THE ALL-POWERFUL NIMBY

12.1 Conceptual view of two different paths for a siting process.

players that includes state governors, federal legislators, and movie
stars. It is a fascinating case history complete with conflict, melodrama, and pathos.
The stakes are enormous. Most people are not aware of how
widespread is use of radioactive materials in our society, and how
much our modern lifestyles and health depend on nuclear materials
and technology. Every hospital in the world relies on nuclear techniques; approximately 150 million nuclear diagnostic procedures
are performed every year. Virtually everyone either has undergone
a nuclear medical procedure or has a friend or relative who has. The
use of the radioactive element cobalt-60 to treat cancer patients has
added a total of approximately 13 million years of human lifespan.
Radioactive techniques are also widely used in research. For
example, radioisotopes are used in genetic research and in the DNA
tests that are becoming common in police investigations. Radioactive materials are also widely used in industry.

Radioactive Materials ami the Economy

A survey conducted in 1994 (Management Information Services, \ 994} estimated that the direct and indirect impacts of the use of radioactive materials
in the United States in 1991 (excluding nwciesr power genratto) were as
follows:
* $257 biillon in total industry sates
3.7 million jobs
* $45 billion in federai, state, and iocal government tux revenues

Like other industries, the production and use of radioactive

materials produces wastes that must be safely disposed of. With this
objective, Congress enacted the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Act of 1980, which laid on states the responsibility for disposing of

LLRW generated within their borders. At the time, there were three
disposal facilities operating in the United States, at Beatty, Nevada;
Barnwell, South Carolina; and Hanford, Washington. To avoid a
profusion of disposal facilities, the states were encouraged to group
into entities called "compacts" that would share one disposal facility. It was envisaged that the repositories would be relatively few
in number and that they would be situated within a reasonable distance of the places where the wastes are generated. (The search for
a disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power
plants is not described here.)
Owing to lack of progress, the Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Policy Amendments Act was passed in 1985. It established a number of target dates as well as penalties to ensure compliance. The
year 1993 was the critical milestone by which the disposal facilities were to be operational.
Since 1985, the LLRW siting process has turned into a political
quagmire, with huge sums of money spent in endless debate. Headway has been made in only one area, the formation of the following compacts (the states that are to host the disposal facilities are
italicized):
Appalachian: Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia
Central Midwest: Illinois, Kentucky
Central Interstate: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska,
Oklahoma
Midwest: Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin
Northeast: Connecticut, New Jersey
Northwest: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah,
Washington, Wyoming
Rocky Mountain: Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico
Southeast: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
Southwest: Arizona, California, North Dakota, South Dakota
Texas: Maine, Texas, Vermont
Unaligned: District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Michigan,
New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico,
South Carolina
Although most of the compacts are organized along geographic
lines, as would be expected to minimize transportation, there are
also some strange bedfellows (see map, Figure 12.2). After serious

THE ALL-POWERFUL NIMBY

12.2 Alignment of state compacts; name of host state is underlined.

attempts at going it alone failed, Vermont and Maine joined in a compact with Texas. This arrangement could result in waste shipments
crossing at least five states in the voyage from the northeast to Texas.
Not a single new disposal facility has yet come into operation,
although the 1993 target for having operating facilities has long
passed (Department of Energy, 1996). Several states have selected
a preferred site and are seeking a license. Only California has a licensed site, but the process is mired in the transfer of land from
federal to state jurisdiction. Several states such as New York and
Michigan, have for all practical purposes given up searching for a
disposal site. It is clear that the 1980 and 1985 acts have been abject failures.
Of the three repositories that were operating before the 1985 act,
two remain open: Barnwell in the East and Hanford in the West.
The disposal facility in Beatty, Nevada, was permanently closed in
1992. The facility in Hanford is now open only to members of the
Northwest Compact and the Rocky Mountain Compact.
Barnwell, South Carolina

The repository operating in Barnwell, South Carolina, has an interesting and acrimonious history. In 1992, the Southeast Compact,

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THE WASTE CRISIS

recognizing that no state or compact would meet the 1993 milestone,

authorized their facility to stay open for out-of-compact states until
mid-1994. However, these outside states would have to show progress
toward developing their own facilities and pay a surcharge of $883
per cubic meter ($25 per cubic foot) in addition to the $5,756 per
cubic meter ($163 per cubic foot) already being charged to states
outside the Southeast Compact.
On June 30,1994, the Barnwell facility closed to out-of-compact
states. This left 31 states and approximately 3,000 hospitals, companies, and institutions without a place to dispose of their low-level
radioactive waste.
With no sign of a new disposal facility anywhere in the nation,
South Carolina passed legislation to reopen Barnwell on July 1,
1995, to waste generators in all states outside the Northwest and
Rocky Mountain compacts (which have access to the Hanford site),
for a period of 10 years. In frustration with the lack of progress in
its own compact, however, the law banned North Carolina from
access to Barnwell.
When approval for this action was sought from the Southeast
Commission, it was narrowly defeated. At the time this book was
written, South Carolina had withdrawn from the Southeast Compact and was not permitting North Carolina access to Barnwell.
NIMBY in California

The Southwest Compact, with California as host, was considered

to have the best chance of meeting the 1993 target. Even before
entering the compact, California enacted legislation authorizing the
Department of Health Services to site and license a disposal facility. The department hired US Ecology, Inc., to find a site and design, construct, and operate a facility.
Three candidate sites were identified in 1987, and Ward Valley was selected as the preferred site in 1988. This site is located
in the Mojave Desert in a federally owned area with a very deep
water table, low annual rainfall, and surficial geology of thick clay
layers. After extensive studies, a site license application was submitted in 1989. In spite of numerous lawsuits and fierce opposition, a license for the facility was issued in September 1993the
first license for a new low-level radioactive waste disposal facility anywhere in the United States in 23 years. But the site is still
not operating today.

THE ALL-POWERFUL NIMBY

The latest, and certainly the most puzzling, obstruction has come
from the federal government, which initiated the entire compact
process. The Department of Interior has for years delayed the transfer to California of the lands on which the Ward Valley facility is to
be constructed.
The National Academy of Sciences studied the matter and issued a report in May 1995 which provided a qualified clean bill
of health to the project. Issues considered included the potential
for hydrological connection between the site and the Colorado
River and the loss of habitat for the desert tortoise, an endangered
species. After their report was issued, the Interior secretary agreed
to the land transfer, but with some strong conditions, including
continued federal involvement. The conditions were unacceptable
to California.
There are many actors on the California stage. Greenpeace set up
an encampment on the site in late 1995, vowing not to depart until
the project was abandoned. But politicians, sensing that reputations
and careers can be made on this emotional issue, are most prolific
in this drama. They include county representatives, state land commissioners, and state and federal congresspersons. Even President
Clinton entered the fray, vowing to veto any bill that approved the
land transfer to California.
There is also squabbling among the proponents of the facility.
US Ecology sued the state to recover some of the huge cost overruns caused by the continuing delay. The state has also been sued
by the National Association of Cancer Patients and the California
Radioactive Materials Management Forum. In turn, the state is suing
the federal government over its refusal to transfer the land.
It appears that the radioactive waste saga in California will continue for a long time.
The Impact of NIMBY

What are the impacts of these long-running delays? The first is that
the cost of disposal has become very expensive. For example, waste
generators from outside the Southeast Compact were paying over
$10,593 per cubic meter ($300 per cubic foot) in 1995 for access to
the Barnwell facility (the disposal charge varies depending on the
concentration and type of radioactivity). This compares to the 1986
cost of about $1,766 per cubic meter ($50 per cubic foot) and $25
per cubic meter ($0.70 per cubic foot) in the 1950s (Newberry, 1993).

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THE WASTE CRISIS

The High Cost of No Forward Progress

The endiess delays In establishing new low-level radioactive waste disposal
facilities have not beers without cost It Is estimated that a total of approximately $$12 million in pubic and private funds has been expended on disposa! facility development efforts since the, passage of the 1980 Policy Act
(Nucfear Energy Institute, 1996). This is a staggering price, considering that
there has been virtually no progress made.

The high cost of disposal has, however, had a positive influence

on how wastes are managed. Every effort has been made to reduce
the amount of waste generated and, where possible, to use treatment
techniques such as incineration and supercompaction to reduce
volume. This has resulted in a significant reduction in the amount
of nuclear waste that must be disposed.
Many generators are turning to on-site storage. For example, in
California approximately 800 temporary storage sites have been set
up at nuclear power plants, hospitals, universities, and research institutes. One has to wonder whether these temporary sites provide
the same degree of safety that would be afforded at Ward Valley.
The use of nuclear medical procedures in many states is being
seriously threatened, with a direct and significant impact on human
lives. The use of radioactive materials in laboratories is being curtailed, threatening the position of the United States as a leading R&D
nation. Industries are being forced to use inferior and generally more
expensive techniques in their monitoring and processing. Some
areas are faced with the prospect of entire industries having to relocate because of lack of access to disposal facilities.
What Happens without Disposal Capacity?
After BarnwelS dosed its doors to out-of-compact states, a survey was conducted of 680 companies and institutions that were denied disposal access,
to determine what impact the closure was having on their operations (Organizations United, 1996).
* One year after loss of disposal access, 15% of the firms had cut products
or services, resulting in increased costs and lower quality of life. Two
percent of those surveyed felt that these cuts would lead to loss of life,
Five medical Institutions were forced to refer patients to other facilities.
Of those surveyed, 59% incurred higher operating costs and 17% reported a loss of revenue.

THE ALL-POWERFUL NIMBY

Summary

The siting process has led to bitter fighting at all levels. State has
fought state in desperately trying to avoid becoming the designated
disposal host. States have fought the federal government in trying
to have the 1980 and 1985 Acts overturned. But the most bitter
skirmishing has been at the local level in states that have tried to
site a disposal facility. Opposition groups have tried and generally
succeeded in blocking progress by using a variety of obstructionist
tactics, ranging from court actions to concerns about endangered
species to physical violence.
Modern judicial, regulatory, and political systems place enormous power and responsibility at the grass-roots level of society.
Consequently, opposition groups have had considerable influence
in directing the siting process and the development of screening
criteria and guidelines. The siting process has become extremely
complex, and environmental assessments have gone to levels of
detail never witnessed in the past. Thus, at every turn, the process
has become more difficult, more complex and, most of all, more
expensive.
NIMB Y's influence now extends far beyond what might be considered unattractive facilities, and it is becoming more and more
difficult to site almost any major project, no matter how beneficial
to society it may be. It is difficult to envisage how society can continue to evolve without the ability to provide infrastructure for a
growing population.
This raises a burning question: Are there siting processes that
overcome NIMBY while protecting the environment and the rights
of both local groups and the larger population, allowing society to
flourish in a sustainable manner?

A Rare Success Story: Swan Hills, Alberta

Scattered in a sea of siting defeats are occasional, lonely islands of

success. The most noteworthy occurred at Swan Hills, Alberta,
where a hazardous waste disposal and treatment facility was sited
in 1984 and commenced operation in 1987 (Henry & Runnals, 1989;
Rabe, 1994a). Situated about 200 kilometers northwest of Edmonton,
this was the only hazardous waste facility to be sited in North
America during the 1980s. (The Swan Hills facility is described in
chapter 11.)

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THE WASTE CRISIS

At the outset, Alberta seemed an unlikely candidate to break the

iron grip of NIMBY. The province began the 1980s with a privatesector approach to siting a hazardous waste facility. Two sites were
proposed but were quickly rejected by fierce local opposition. Recognizing that this approach would be unlikely to succeed, the provincial government placed a moratorium on siting and established
the Hazardous Waste Management Committee.
The committee proposed a siting process that involved the three
main parties in what was then an innovative approach. One key was
an emphasis on voluntarism: only communities that offered to host
the site would be considered. The private sector's role was to plan
and operate the facility. The province was responsible for developing siting criteria and a public information and involvement program. Particular emphasis was placed on communication, starting
at the outset of the process.
In the early stages of the site-selection process, Alberta officials
hosted more than 120 informational meetings throughout the province. Those communities that expressed interest in participation
were offered additional information, including a detailed analysis
of their geographic area. Fifty-two jurisdictions requested these
analyses. Siting criteria were developed and applied through constraint mapping. The process emphasized consultation with the
public.
Subsequently, 14 communities expressed interest in continuing
in the site selection. Of these, nine dropped out, either because of
technical unsuitability or in response to strong public opposition.
The remaining five communities held plebiscites in 1982, and all
five received overwhelming approval for hosting the facility.
Swan Hills, with 79% of its voters in support, was selected as
the host for the facility in 1984. Situated 210 kilometers northwest
of Edmonton and with a population of 2,400, Swan Hills was attractive because of its proximity to Edmonton, its good transportation links, and its relative isolation, so that the support of nearby
towns was not required.
Acceptance of the facility by the residents of Swan Hills was
probably helped by the competitive atmosphere that developed
among the communities vying for the complex. The community
leaders from the town of Ryley, for example, were outspoken in
registering their disappointment at not being selected.
The strong support of local political leaders was essential in
building public trust and grass-roots support. They emphasized the
positive economic development potential, the voluntary nature of

THE ALL-POWERFUL NIMBY

the exercise, the need for such a facility, and the concern that wastes
in the province, including their region, were currently being managed in an unsafe manner. Regular informational meetings were
held, and the mayor and council were proactive in encouraging
citizens to attend the meetings. In particular, the meetings served
as a useful forum to consider and refute claims from national and
international environmental groups that the facility would pose a
serious environmental threat to the area.
Economically, the construction of a $34 to $38 million complex,
with 55 new permanent jobs, was attractive. A comprehensive package of benefits to the community also formed a key part of the siting negotiations. A grant of approximately $128,000 was provided
to cover expenses of town meetings, consultations with experts,
hiring a consultant to review monitoring data, purchasing a van to
provide transportation of townspeople to the site, assistance in
developing a golf course, and planting of trees. An important part
of the package was a special medical surveillance program for all
facility employees.
Since the Swan Hills Treatment Centre came into existence, the
town of Swan Hills has enjoyed a period of relative prosperity. The
facility has helped to overcome a decline in the oil and gas industry by creating 86 new jobs and also by luring new industries that
wished to be next to a comprehensive waste management facility.
The town has seen major increases in housing starts, a $3.8 million
upgrade to the water supply, the opening of a modern hospital, the
construction of a major new office complex, and the beginning of a
major industrial park. An unexpected economic development has
been the large number of technical tourists whom the facility attracts.
The facility and its operation are described in chapter 11. Recently it has had some financial difficulties, owing primarily to
lower waste volumes than projected. Nevertheless, as a case study
in the siting of a controversial facility, it is a remarkable achievement from which much can be learned.

Building an Equitable Siting Process

What is an equitable siting process? It is a process whose outcome

is a win-win situation for all the stakeholders. An equitable process
will find a site or sites with technically suitable characteristics, at
the same time safeguarding the interests of the host community. It
will ensure that the health of local citizens is protected, that their

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THE WASTE CRISIS

concerns are addressed, and that they are compensated for the inconvenience of hosting the facility on behalf of others. Furthermore,
the process should generate an atmosphere that promotes calm
negotiation rather than emotional divisiveness. An equitable siting
process breaks down the walls of distrust and replaces confrontation with discussion.
Considerable effort has been expended over the past decade in
trying to define an equitable siting process, and the following elements have emerged.
The public must understand and accept the need for the proposed facility. The need for the facility should be explained as part
of a sensible, long-term waste management strategy, rather than
in isolation.
A siting process should allow meaningful involvement by the
local community. In fact, a voluntary siting process, including shared
decision-making, is now advocated as the best approach. This effectively turns away from the "decide-announce-defend-litigate" pattern of the past to a "consult-decide-announce-consult-improve"
process. It is important that the government of authoritylocal,
state, or federaland the proponent define the process in advance
and make a commitment to using it. The local communities should
be involved from the outset.
Economic benefits should be given to the host community to
compensate for the inconvenience and potential risk they are accepting. The form of compensation can vary widely; it may include
cash, tipping fees, jobs, and property value guarantees.
Stringent safety standards must be implemented to ensure protection of human and environmental health. This would include
ongoing monitoring of potentially affected individuals as well as
the ecological system. It is particularly important that the community be involved in denning this program so residents are convinced
that their safety is being adequately protected.
Financial support can be given to the community at an early stage
to hire its own independent expert consultants to review the proponent's studies and permit applications. This would alleviate concerns about "hidden" facts.
Local citizens should be given operational involvement in the
process, including meaningful decision-making responsibility. Possible areas of involvement include overseeing the monitoring programs, membership on the management team, and a citizens' oversight committeepossibly with the power to shut down the facility
should an emergency situation arise. Such involvement, more than

THE ALL-POWERFUL NIMBY

any other factor, would show that the process is open and fair. The
host community and its citizens should be a resource and a partner
rather than an adversary.
A process should be used that is open-ended rather than a short
or one-shot exercise. Presumably, involved parties will treat each
more civilly if they know that they will be interacting over an extended period. It is also essential that both parties expect to achieve
optimal results through cooperation.
Fear of the unknown
Fear of the unknown Is a powerful human emotion. Suppose that a stranger
asks you to step into a pitch-black room. NatucaHy, you will fed very reluctant to enter. Not knowing what Is inside, your mind fils the void by vividly
imagining snakes, an elevator shaft, or any number of other frightening possibilities awaiting you.
Your worries would quickly dissipate if the light were switched on and
you could see that the room was harm!es$~$ay, your own bedroom. Providing Information to a commynity is iike switching on the light in a dark
room.

The siting process will depend on the specific characteristics of

the community, including its demography, history, geology, and
natural setting. The details of the type and size of facility will have
to be carefully factored into the process. In other words, the siting
process needs to be flexible so it can be tailored to the specific needs,
concerns, and character of the community that is involved.
The Fly in the Soup

In recent years there has been a marked shift from a "technological" approach to a "voluntary" siting approach which incorporates
many of the guidelines described above. Nevertheless, siting processes continue to come off the rails. For example, a Minnesota
initiative to site a hazardous waste facility was modeled after the
Swan Hills approach. Despite this, it ground to a halt (Rabe, 1994b).
In the search for low-level radioactive waste disposal sites (described earlier in this chapter), some states have tried the voluntary siting approachincluding very substantial benefit packages
but with no success.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Although the siting process has evolved significantly, it still has

some fundamental flaws. What are the reasons for the continuing
failure of siting processes?
The siting process is very sensitive and vulnerable, and tiny
embers can easily be fanned into infernos of emotion. The process
most often comes unstuck as a result of the involvement of activist
groups who have only one goal: to disrupt the process. These groups
are generally small and often are from outside the area. They have
no desire to cooperate or negotiate; they feel the end justifies the
means. Their strategy is to create distrust, bad will, and fear; and,
for the reasons discussed in this chapter, it is not difficult to achieve
these goals. Once a tense and disagreeable environment has been
created, the community will often seek peace and quiet by withdrawing from the process.
The final, and currently missing, component is a mechanism
which keeps the atmosphere calm, thus allowing objective dialog
to take place. It is only in such a calm setting that the desires of the
community can be considered and informed decisions made.
In the past, siting failures were often due to the insensitivity of
the proponent and ramrod tactics. The voluntary siting approach
has gone a long way toward remedying this problem. No such guidelines have been developed to ensure fair play by other groups.
The natural susceptibility of humans, particularly in a group,
to emotional rather than rational behavior also contributes to the
downfall of siting processes. It is akin to a buffalo herd which has
been frightened into a stampede, controlled totally by emotion. For
example, it is common at information meetings that activist groups
organize their members into one area where they boo and disrupt
proponent speakers or any community citizens who may take a
stance that does not agree with theirs. This is very intimidating; it
fosters a mob togetherness and virtually ensures that citizens will
side with their view. It can create a very unpleasant atmosphere,
and the easy way out for the townspeople is to withdraw from the
siting process.
The Final Step

The ethics of tactics that raise emotions must be questioned. The

creation of a hostile, emotionally charged atmosphere infringes on
the right of community members to obtain information and make
their own decisions.

THE ALL-POWERFUL NIMBY

A factor that is seldom discussed or considered is that trust works

in hoth directions. Modern siting processes devote considerable
effort to ensuring that the proponent deals with the host community in a fair and equitable manner. The final step in building an
equitable siting process is ensuring that the opponents also act in a
fair and equitable fashionin other words, that there is fairness and
respect in both directions.
Situations should not be allowed to develop where small but
well-organized and vocal opposition groups use distorted facts and
polemic to stampede the potential host community into dropping
out of the siting process. Likewise, the proponent has no right to
decide that a facility is going to be situated in a certain community,
and then take steps effectively to railroad the facility through by
coercion and other strong-arm tactics. An equitable process is one
in which both the proponent and the groups representing the host
community are fair and open.
It is essential that issues are thoroughly debated and that freedom of speech is not impaired. Nonetheless, false statements, distortions, and sensationalism should not be tolerated. The community has a responsibility to set rules that provide for factual debate
without limiting anyone's right to free expression. It is not easy to
formulate methods by which this might be done.
In summary, for meaningful siting processes, governing norms
need to be established that guide the conduct of involved parties
and allow for an objective, factual debate in a non-emotional setting (Rabe, 1992). These governing norms should not curtail debate
or the freedom of speech, but they should offer a mechanism for
filtering out unsubstantiated facts, falsehoods, and distortions.
Needless to say, methods of enforcing the norms will be even
more difficult to develop than the norms themselves. Some possible
approaches to developing an equitable siting process include the
following.
A panel of citizens could be established to review the proponents'
proposals and studies. Such citizen advisory groups (CAGs) have
been used frequently in the past, with mixed results. Some refinements are recommended here. First, the community should seek
assurance that the committee would be composed of fair-minded,
respected individuals. The panel members should be selected and
would be expected to act much like judges in a judicial system. That
is, they would be expected to listen with open minds to all arguments and opinions and to balance them objectively; they would

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THE WASTE CRISIS

be expected to act as individuals and not represent any specific

groups. Just as judges are sworn into office, panel members might
be asked to sign an affidavit or take an oath that they will perform
their duties in a fair and unbiased manner and act in the best interests of the community.
Second, the GAG could act as a conduit for information to the
community and to the press. For example, public information sessions could be organized under the auspices of the GAG, who would
establish guidelines for the speakers. They could also review and
approve speakers.
Any advocacy groups, either pro or con, should clearly identify
who they represent and who their members are, and they should
accept responsibility for the factual content of their statements. All
groups involved in the issue should undertake to behave by the
established governing norms.
The community could contact the local media and request open,
fair media coverage. Whenever items showing potential bias or distortion are submitted to the media, they should be researched to
verify their content, and the other side should be given the opportunity to provide a counter-statement. Sensationalism and emotionalism should be avoided. This proposal would not be a curtailment
of the freedom of the media; rather it would be a request for them
to act in a professional and responsible manner.
Permanent new governmental conflict-resolution institutions
could be established which have the expertise to develop compromise and resolve conflict in controversial siting situations. These
agencies could assist the local CAGs and could mediate if difficulties developed. Acting as overseers or referees, they would
speak out if they felt that any parties were not adhering to the
governing norms. Needless to say, such agencies would need
to be totally independent and have credibility to perform their
duties.
Many delays in siting result from lawsuits and legal challenges.
The proposed governmental conflict-resolution institutions might
also be granted broader legal rights to adjudicate in such matters,
rather than having them go before the courts.
These proposals do not guarantee that facilities will be successfully sited; communities may still choose to reject them, and they
should have every right to do so. However, the proposed siting
process ensures that decisions will be based on healthy and open
dialog. In our complex technological world, we need such a new
direction.

Tips from the Trenches

From 198? to 199$, the Canadian government developed and implemented
a method to find a disposal sit for a targe volume of historic low-level radioactive waste which arose from the refining of uranium ore, Called the Cooperative Siting Process, it is the most innovative and ambitious siting program
undertaken in Canada. Principles and gyideiines were established for the
process at the outset to ensure that potential host municipalities would participate on a voluntary and partnership basis. The process was designed to
be open, participatory, and democratic. Extensive consultations were conducted starting with invitations to ail 850 Ontario municipalities, followed
by detailed discussions with 26 municipalities that decided to become involved. Although most of the initial volunteer sites opted out over the ensu-

ing eoght years,eventually one community voluteered a site unfortunately

largely because of costs, the government has to date not proceeded with
developing the facility, The process was often acrimonious and had many
hitches along the way. Here are some of the practical pointers that emerged
{lafferty, 1996).
Community Liaison Groups were established at each potential host municipality. Difficulties were frequently encountered with these groups because
they were seen as infringing on the role of the elected councils. It is felt that
such groups would foe more productive if they were appointed by and reporting to the elected representatives as, say, an advisory committee. An
orderly mechanism for reguiarly replacing representatives would provide
continuity as well as renewed energy when the process runs over several years.
The process was vulnerable to media coverage of the negative, the alarming, and the eccentric, but seldom the factual, Perceptions of the public and
politicians were often formed by these media reports. It is important to devise methods to obtain unbiased media coverage.
Open houses are an effective means of communication. They should be designed so that thy provide information, are honest,, lack hard-sell pressure,
and avoid presenting a platform for lobbyists.
The perceptions of nontechnical people about the safety of the proposed
facility were not swayed by costly technical assessments. Far more effective
are simple analogies and demonstrations that explain in a handso manner. For example, visits to disposal facilities that had been operating safely
for years did more to instill confidence in the merits of the proposed facility
than did any technical study. Concrete examples, rather than abstract studies, are the key to changing perceptions.

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THE WASTE CRISIS

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. To which compact does your state belong for developing

a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility? Contact
the lead organization and find out what progress has been
made. What are the main difficulties they have encountered, and how do they propose to overcome these?
2. Have you observed any examples of the NIMBY syndrome
in your community? What were the main issues? Do you
feel that a fair outcome resulted?
3. If you were chairing an open-house meeting for siting a
waste disposal facility and one opposition group became
noisy, rude, and disruptive, how would you handle the
situation?

13
A NEW APPROACH

We need waste disposal methods that allow the human race to live
on this planet in harmony with nature, preserving our resources and
habitat and leaving a legacy for our children and grandchildren that
does not deprive them of opportunities. These changes will not
come easily; they will require resolve and foresight.

Starting from Basics

Just as a mathematician develops the proof to a mathematical theorem, we must start from a basic axiom, and step by step, following
a logical progression, we must build a practical framework for waste
management. We started this task in chapter 2, where we derived
three general principles from the axiom of sustainable development.
Can we apply these general principles to develop practical guidelinesfirst, to overcome the shortcomings of existing landfills, and
second, to find other, innovative disposal methods that will conform with sustainable development? Let us look at each of the three
principles in turn.
The Health and Environment Principle

Human health and the environment must be protected, both now

and in the future. This principle is fundamental and places important constraints on the siting and design of disposal facilities, and
also on the form of the waste. In particular, the final four words,
"and in the future," are very important.
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THE WASTE CRISIS

This principle can be satisfied in two ways: by reducing the toxicity of the wastes so they pose minimal risk, or by containing wastes
so that they cannot escape and cause harm. In some cases, the latter method includes controlled leakage at a rate that the environment can assimilate without long-term degradation.
The Future Generations Principle

Wastes must be managed so that no burden is placed on future generations and they are not deprived of the opportunities we have had.
In other words, our grandchildren should not have to spend their
valuable resources to solve our waste problems, nor should they be
denied resources because our generation has depleted them. Neither should their health and environment be placed at risk because
of our actions.
The main impacts of landfills on future generations are (1) the
requirement to provide ongoing guardianship and maintenance; (2)
the loss of valuable land; and (3) impairment of groundwater, surface water, and the atmosphere. There are essentially only two ways
the first and third impact can be prevented. First, the volume and
toxicity of the wastes can be reduced so that they pose no threat.
Alternatively, the wastes can be placed into a containment that is
isolated from degradational forces so that it does not require maintenance, and that is sufficiently secure that wastes will not escape
in future. The second impact is discussed under the next principle.
Conservation Principle

Nonrenewable resources must be conserved. Although this principle

seems simple, its application leads to a number of important guidelines. Three resources are affected by waste disposal:
Land used in developing landfills
Groundwater contaminated by landfill leachate
Resources bound up in the waste itself
Let us review the shortcomings of landfills:
Many older landfills, generally constructed without liners
in areas selected for convenience, are leaking leachate into
groundwater systems.
Newer landfills which incorporate modern engineering
barriers will leak eventually, probably within 50 to 100
years of closure.

A NEW APPROACH

Landfills emit gases that can cause both local and global
environmental problems.
Landiills contain valuable resources such as paper, metals,
and plastics that should be recovered for recycling and
reuse, as well as nonrecoverable materials that can be incinerated to generate energy; thus, landfills are a resource.
Many landfills are not collecting landfill gasesa waste of
a valuable energy resource.
Landfills, particularly modern ones, protrude well above the
surrounding landscape and are exposed to erosion; thus,
they will require monitoring and ongoing maintenance for
centuries to come.
Landfills occupy large tracts of land that could be put to
better use by society.
In summary, landfills generally provide only short-term security.
When the long term is considered, they violate all three basic principles necessary to achieve sustainable development.

Guidelines

This book argues that we should decrease our dependence on nearsurface landfills to the maximum degree possible. Although this is
not feasible in the short term, we should set the goal of eliminating
near-surface landfills altogether over the long term. But how do we
do this in a manner that is consistent with the three guiding principles? Guidelines can be derived from sustainable development and
the three basic principles; this concept is illustrated in Figure 13.1.
Recycling

A direct consequence of the conservation principle, and underpinning both of the other main principles, is the vigorous application
of the "three Rs" to ensure that the amount of wastes that ultimately
need to be disposed is minimized. In other words, recycling will
not only greatly reduce our need for landfills; it will also reduce
the demand for energy, reduce pollution of land, water, and air, and
conserve valuable raw materials.
The importance of reducing waste quantities cannot be stressed
sufficiently. It is the key that will unlock the door to the goal of
sustainable development. The three Rs must form a fundamental
pillar of any integrated waste management program.

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13.1 Development of waste management guidelines based on

sustainable development.
Incineration

Even with vigorous recyclingas the Japanese example showsa

very large amount of waste will still require disposal. The only other
technology available today to reduce it is incineration. It destroys
organic compounds, reduces waste volumes, and renders the waste
into an ash that is amenable for treatments such as solidification.
These results support the health and environment principle. Electricity or district heating can also be generated from waste, preserving valuable resources such as oil, coal, and natural gas for future
generations. Incineration has the potential to become an important
and necessary complement to recycling.
Reduce Toxicity

Finally, even after recycling and incineration, some wastes will

remain. All three principles would be satisfied if these could be
rendered harmless prior to disposal. This is difficult to achieve
completely, however, because it requires that the waste undergo
chemical transformation into nontoxic elements. This is achievable
for organic compounds, but not for inorganics. Inorganics should
be put into an inert, leach-resistant formfor example, encapsulated
into cement as is done at the Swedish nuclear repository discussed
in chapter 11. Additional barriers could also be incorporated, if
deemed necessary.

A NEW APPROACH

Breaking Dependence on Near-Surface Landfills

As noted earlier, all three sustainable development principles suggest that we decrease our reliance on near-surface landfills. The
following discussion identifies both short-term and long-term strategies to do this.

Short Term
In the short term, landfills will continue to be a necessary part of
waste management systems. During this period, they should be
designed and operated in a manner that satisfies the three principles
to the extent possible. This implies several requirements.
First, landfills should incorporate double liners and leak detection systems; contingency plans should be developed to deal with
leaks. Second, landfills should be sited carefully in areas that provide natural protection and assimilation of contaminants, should
leakage occur. Third, comprehensive gas-collection systems should
be used to ensure that toxic organic gases are not released to the
atmosphere. Energy should be produced from the methane.
Finally, short-term decomposition of waste should be accelerated
by using the bioreactor concept while liners and barriers are intact.
The anaerobic conditions that favor decomposition can be obtained
by using covers that permit infiltration, by adding sludge and water,
and by recirculating leachate. In other words, immediately upon
closure a landfill should be encouraged to "cook" its contents vigorously for a number of years. Once the greater part of decomposition has occurred, an impermeable cover can be placed over the
landfill, the leachate pumped out, and the landfill left in a dry entombed state.

Long Term
The short-term agenda consists of steps that are relatively commonplace; many of them are already being implemented by progressive
waste managers. In the long term, more radical measures are necessary. Some potential approaches are discussed here.
Landfills could be mined to recover recyclable materials and
energy, as described in chapter 8. This method would greatly extend the lifetime of landfills thus reducing the need for new ones.
Furthermore, older, closed landfills, particularly those that pose an

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environmental hazard, could either be reclaimed for other beneficial uses or upgraded in terms of environmental protection.
Because inorganic compounds cannot be destroyed, secure longterm containment is necessary. In simple terms, either disposal facilities should not leak at all, or any future leakage should be at such
low rates that it does not harm the biosphere. This containment
should stay in place over the period that the wastes remain hazardous. For inorganic wastes, this is essentially in perpetuity.
Once institutional controls have ceased, inadvertent intrusion
becomes the primary risk for surface facilities (Eedy and Hart, 1988).
To prevent people from unintentionally building on or digging into
a closed disposal facility, it should be isolatedremoved from areas
that humans typically inhabit.
Chapter 8 explored a broad spectrum of waste disposal methods.
On closer scrutiny, most of these approaches have some fatal weaknesses. However, one alternativedeep underground disposal
appears to have potential. In this method, wastes are placed deep
underground where sturdy rock formations that have been undisturbed for millions of years will protect the wastes for similar periods. This appears to be the only method that can economically provide both long-term containment and isolation.
The selection of a proper geologic host site should be done carefully to ensure that groundwater is protected. For example, silicate
rocks such as thick clays or granitic formations have very low solubilities, and when few fractures are present they can be highly impervious to water passage. Some formations, such as sands and
porous limestones, are not suitable and should be avoided.
Waste should be emplaced as deep below the surface as practically possible. Depth not only provides isolation from the elements
and protection from future human intrusion, but it also places the
waste into zones that are largely impermeable and that contain very
small amounts of slowly moving groundwater. Groundwaters at
depth are often saline owing to the long time they have spent in the
subsurface.
Underground space is a vast domain which humans have explored and exploited only minimally, and thus it is suitable for
waste disposal. This is not a new concept: the nuclear industry has
been exploring deep disposal of its wastes for many years. An impediment to extending this method to municipal solid waste is cost;
it would be economically feasible only if waste volumes were greatly
reduced. Incinerator ash (particularly fly ash) and hazardous wastes
would be prime candidates for underground disposal.

A NEW APPROACH

Change in EmphasisA New Waste Management Hierarchy

As described in chapter 4, most jurisdictions in North America have
developed an integrated waste management policy with the following hierarchy of methods, from most important to least important:

Reduction at source
Recycling
Incineration
Landfill disposal

In practice, though, this hierarchy is often inverted. Although reduction is at the top of the list, little is actually being done, with
most efforts focused instead on recycling. For example, very few
people use their own reusable bags for shopping. There has also been
a trend away from using refillable beverage containers to oncethrough plastic or aluminum containers. Incineration is supposed
to take preference over landfilling, but in some jurisdictionssuch
as California and Canadait is not being considered because of
public opposition. Landfilling forms the main part of the overall
system (see Fig. 4.2). In practice, the current waste management
hierarchy is:

Landfill disposal
Recycling
Reduction at source
Incineration

We propose a revised waste management hierarchy that meets

the three principles supporting sustainable development:
Reduction at source
Recycling and incineration
Phase out near-surface landfills
Currently the United States and Canada produce more garbage
per capita than any other countries. Action is required to reduce
significantly the amount of waste produced at source. This is not
an easy task, because it requires a fundamental change in attitude.
We must change our lifestyle and place less emphasis on consumerism. Source reduction is to waste management what preventive
medicine is to health.
Human beings have risen to challenges before: we have placed
humans on the moon, climbed Mount Everest, found cures for diseases, even transplanted hearts. The lifestyle change associated with
implementing a comprehensive three-Rs ethic is a similar challenge.

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Recycling is a vital component of solid waste management. It is

essential that society place much greater importance on recycling
and develop the ethic and infrastructure to support it. This has been
recognized, and there has been a rapid increase in recycling and
composting programs since the mid-1980s. The total amount of
waste going to landfill, however, has decreased only slightly (see
Fig. 4.2).
Significantly more diversion of waste from landfills must be
achieved. Of all the technologies that are currently available, only
incineration is capable of fulfilling this objective.
In the proposed hierarchy, incineration would function together
with and complementary to recycling. It would not compete with
recycling but instead would deal only with those wastes that cannot be economically or practically recycled. Incineration would
recover the energy content of wastes that cannot be recycled or
composted. Incinerators, with energy production, would be complements to recycling, not competitors. Both are needed, and both are
essential.
The proposed waste management hierarchy places near-surface
landfills at the bottom of the list; furthermore, it recommends that
proactive steps be taken to decrease landfill use in the near term, and
that they be phased out completely in the long term. Closed landfills
should be rehabilitated. New, radically different approachessuch
as landfill mining, underground disposal, and beneficial uses for
incinerator ashare necessary to achieve this objective.

Non-Technical Issues

There are many hurdles to overcome in transforming our society's

philosophy from convenience and unbridled consumerism to sustainable development. Although the solutions to the waste crisis are
essentially technical, they cannot be implemented without major
efforts in the social and regulatory arenas. There is a major nontechnical component in solving the waste crisis.
First and foremost, attitudes must change. A united front is necessary to reduce the amount of waste we create. To accomplish such
a transformation, everyone must get involvednot just waste management experts. There is a need for education, fiscal policies and
taxes to encourage waste reduction, and penalties for using land for
disposal. Everyone needs to be a player. We must recognize that poor
waste management practices are just as devastating to our future as

A NEW APPROACH

clear-cutting old-growth forests, or depleting fish stocks, or using

up oil resources.
There is also a need for change in waste management technologies. The current situation is reminiscent of the time when the automohile began to replace the horse and buggy. People questioned the
need for endless kilometers of paved highways and wondered
whether it would be possible to build gas stations at thousands of
convenient locations. Objections were raised about the unknown
health effects of traveling at speeds as high as 30 kilometers per hour.
Waste management faces a similar challenge in introducing new
technologies such as incinerators and underground disposal. Communities need to be persuaded to accept these facilities. Environmental assessments and public hearings will need to be held, and
there will be the inevitable NIMBY arguments.
It will take some time to make this transition. What can be done
to resolve the non-technical issues?
A major impediment in solving the waste crisis is the lack of
general knowledge about wastes and waste issues. For example, few
people understand the health effects of toxic compounds such as
PCBs and pesticides, or realize that air emissions from landfills are
as bad as or worse than those from incinerators.
We live in a complex world which does not readily lend itself to
analysis in catchy one-liners. If one thread is disturbed, repercussions will be felt somewhere else in the vast, interconnected ecosystem web. To make sensible judgments, it is necessary to understand complex waste issues. This can come only through education
and experience. Thus, it is important that information programs
explaining the waste crisis, the hazards associated with wastes, and
alternative technologies be initiated through school systems and the
media.
Knowledgeable, well-informed politicians are essential in bringing together stakeholders and reaching effective, rational decisions.
Thus, efforts must be made to inform and involve politicians in
waste management issues. Since financial issues are always a major
concern, politicians should be presented with detailed information
on costs of relevant alternatives.
Different waste types, ranging from municipal to industrial to
radioactive wastes, should be dealt with in a logical and consistent
manner. As discussed in chapter 6, the hazards posed by these
wastes are similar, varying only in degree. Yet these waste types
are generally regulated by different agencies which often set widely
different standards.

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Regulations should also be made uniform across different jurisdictional boundariesmunicipal, state, federal, or international.
Much must be done to make laws and regulations and guidelines
consistent with the principles espoused above; they need a rational basis. Currently, too many regulations have been developed that
address a specific waste in isolation from other waste types and
other hazards that society faces. They are often based on emotional
arguments rather than on a solid foundation of science. Regulations have, on more than a few occasions, been established to serve
political purposes rather than providing real protection of the
environment.
There is also considerable fragmentation of waste management
responsibilities among different levels of government, often with a
lack of coordination or sharing of common goals. For example,
wastes are often shipped from one jurisdiction to another because
of cheaper disposal costs or less rigid regulatory requirements.
The current difficulties in siting waste management facilities (the
NIMBY syndrome) need to be resolved in fair and equitable fashion. On the one hand, we must be able to protect ourselves against
environmental threats. On the other hand, we need to be able to site
and build disposal facilities. By not taking action, we are placing
the environment at greater risk.
We have presented fundamental principles to guide the selection
and design of waste management facilities. Based on sustainable
development rather than convenience, these principles should help
in developing directions for resolving the waste crisis. In addition,
we presented specific suggestions for overcoming the emotion,
antagonism, and distrust that invariably arise at siting processes,
and replacing them with a calmer, more thoughtful negotiation.
In summary, a concerted effort is needed by waste engineers,
politicians, lawmakers, teachers, mediators, andmost important
all the rest of us. Through informed discussion, attitudes toward
waste generation will change over time, and we will be able to
implement solutions to the crisis.

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. This chapter argues that landfills are not good for the environment and should be phased out. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

A NEW APPROACH

2 How do you think that landfills could be phased out, and

what period of time would be required?
3 Many people are opposed to incinerators. If they are not to
be used, what are the alternatives?
4 Develop several scenarios showing how intentional and
unintentional intrusion could compromise the integrity of
closed landfills. For each scenario, describe how human
health and the environment would be harmed.
5 Do you agree with the proposed waste management hierarchy? Why? How would you change it?

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14
FUTURISTIC GARBOLOGY
A Vision

We gaze with some apprehension at a sleek, shiny machine that

looks like a cross between a sports car and a small spaceship. Illuminated in a vertical cylinder of light, the time capsule silently
awaits our entry; it gives no clue to what we can expect at our destination, the year 2032.
With racing hearts, our small group of garbologists enters; we
strap ourselves in. Soon the countdown begins. There is only the
briefest feeling of levitation, a slight rising sensation in the pit of
the stomach as though descending in a fast elevator, and then we
are there.
As we exit, our curiosity is at fever pitch. What has happened to
the Earth in the three decades we miraculously skipped over? Before we departed, the world's population was rapidly approaching
6 billion, with many signs that the environment was finally wilting
under this onslaught. We could only guess at what three more decades of continued environmental degradation might yield. Would
we find air that was breathable, only traces of an ozone layer, any
remnants of tropical or old-growth forests, any parks or green spaces
in cities? Would North America be one giant parking lot?
With these questions buzzing through our brains, we begin our
futuristic exploration, like archeologists working in reverse. We
move invisibly through this new time domain, knowing that we can
only observe and not affect anything we see.
It is clear that we are still in New York City, but what a change!
The streets are no longer choked with car traffic, although small
motorized bicycles, some built for two or three people, are darting
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everywhere. There is no haze in the sky, the air feels clean and brisk,
and the streets are completely free of litter. Recycle containers are
ubiquitous; they are green and divided into six compartments. As
we soon discover, every house, apartment building, streetcorner,
park, airport, shopping mall, and baseball diamond has recycling
containers; there are no waste bins. People treat garbage as a resource
rather than as something undesirable, and they spend considerable
effort in separating the various recyclable components, whether they
are at home, at work, in a cafeteria, or at play.
As we look around and see the future, we are pleased. There has
been a revolution in the attitude of the public, and an ethic of conservation and the three Rs now pervades all levels of society.
This major change in mentality did not come easily. Plugged into
the virtual-reality computers in the public library, we witness the
environmental crisis of the previous decade. Growing populations
an avaricious consumer society, and the expanding economies of
Third World countries led to enormous stress on natural resources
as well as on the environment. For decades, even centuries, doomsayers had warned that the Earth was finite, that it could not support unconstrained population growth, and that disaster was imminent. For years, these Malthusian pessimists were derided and
ignored.
But finally, in the 2020s, their predictions started to come true.
Power blackouts began to hit with frightening regularity. The price
of consumer goods skyrocketed owing to shortages of basic materials. There were riots at stores and malls. Curfews were imposed
in large cities to limit exposure to the dank, health-sapping smog.
Thanks to the library's virtual-reality computer systems, we are not
just watching the news; we feel like we are living in the middle of
the nightmare. But although it was a black period in history, it did
the trick. People finally realized that action, rather than words, was
needed.
The renaissance was like a wildflower blossoming among the
cinders of a burned-out forest. Conservation fever suddenly gripped
the world, the like of which had never been experienced before,
except perhaps during the great wars of the twentieth century. In
a single decade, society completely overturned the consumerist
lifestyle that had been practiced for so longand probably saved
the Earth by doing so.
Emerging from the library, we observe that conservation and waste
reduction touch the life of every individual. For example, stores do
not provide shoppers with "free" bags. It is an automatic reflex to bring

FUTURISTIC GARBOLOGY

reusable bags when shopping, and the bags are made of remarkable
new ultrathin materials that fold into the size of a matchbox so they
can be conveniently carried in a pocket or purse. Consumer pressure
has caused packaging of goods to become more restrained. Shrinkwrap and cardboard packaging are only infrequently seen, when there
are no alternatives. Bulk goods are prevalent in everything from food
to nuts and bolts at the hardware store. Individual packaging of small
items is not quite extinct, but it is fading.
We observe a dramatic shift away from single-use, disposable
products to more durable multi-use products. An important regulation was instituted in 2029 requiring that all new durable goods
carry a sizable refundable deposit to ensure that the item is returned
to the manufacturer for recycling. This includes things such as refillable drink bottles, whence the idea came, to computers, tires,
lightbulbs, and photocopiers. The automobile industry perhaps best
symbolizes the change of mindset. No longer do they change the
design of their cars each year. Instead, like the Volkswagen Beetle
of our era, the models retain the same form for many years, with
the emphasis on durability and practical function rather than on
glitzy style.
New companies have been created that collect broken and discarded household appliances, including electronic goods such as
televisions, power tools, and furniture, for refurbishing and reselling. These firms have flourished, some with franchises across the
country. Shares in these companies have been the darlings of the
stock market for the past few years.
Although virtual-reality computers dominate all facets of life,
especially education and entertainment, society still produces real,
not virtual, garbage. It is recognized that placing this refuse into
landfills poses an environmental risk. Government programs have
been established to exhume old landfills systematically and reclaim
them, eliminating the risk of groundwater pollution and allowing
the land to be put to other uses. These projects extract useful items
such as metals and glass, with the rest generally being incinerated.
A number of landfills have begun recovering paper for pulp and
paper plants, using a new technology that separates paper and cellulose products from mixed waste.
The public is engrossed by the archeological aspects of these
landfill mining programs and is regularly entertained by fascinating insights into the lives of their ancestors. People seem particularly amused by the things that were discarded in the pastitems
which for years now have been illegal to place into landfills. We

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are embarrassed, recognizing that it is our refuse that is the subject

of their amusement.
Collection of landfill gas has become mandatory, and all remaining landfills, mostly older ones, have comprehensive gas collection
systems. Although the prime purpose is to prevent gases from polluting the atmosphere, the gas also provides valuable energy. Most
of the sites generate electricity, but a number sell directly to nearby
industrial or commercial users who fire their boilers with the gas.
Some landfills upgrade the gas to pipeline quality and sell it to
natural gas utilities which add it to their pipelines for distribution.
It is estimated that landfills in North America contribute over 5,000
megawatts of energy, saving a considerable amount of fossil fuel and
the attendant emissions to atmosphere.
With the smaller amounts of garbage, it is now practical to transport waste over long distances. As a consequence, landfill sites are
regional in scope, serving many cities rather than individual municipalities as in the past. There are fewer landfills than at any point
in the past century. Rail delivery of waste has become routine, and
the landfills have specialized equipment to unload the railcars and
deliver the waste to the operating cells.
Many regions are turning to deep underground burial of their
wastes. This has been a boon for areas, such as the northeastern
United States, where land space is at a premium. Waste is received
at surface transfer stations and carried by conveyors to waste shafts
where it is dumped into a series of large caverns about 150 meters
below ground surface. Mining machinery moves, places, and compacts the garbage. Once the caverns are filled, the shafts and other
underground openings are sealed with concrete.
Rock aggregate produced by the mining of the underground caverns is used in road-building and other civil engineering projects.
This in turn has added cement-making, aggregate, and other spinoff
businesses to the already burgeoning industrial parks situated over
the top of these landfills. The cement and aggregate are also used
to encapsulate some of the wastes, particularly incinerator ash, into
a durable, rocklike form prior to placement underground. In addition, research has resulted in new applications for incinerator
ash, including road construction, concrete piers, and other marine
structures.
Although much less waste is going to landfill, energy generation
from methane has not declined appreciably, owing to the efficiency
with which the gas can be collected from subsurface facilities. The
major benefit of going into inner space, however, has been safety.

FUTURISTIC GARBOLOCY

No longer are there complaints of groundwater pollution or bad

odors associated with landfills.
The few remaining aboveground landfills, generally the older
ones, operate as bioreactors in a fast-cooker mode. Every effort is
made to promote rapid anaerobic decomposition of the waste. Considerable research on the biochemistry of anaerobic digestion has
been done in the past decade, and this has led to major advances in
the science and engineering of landfills. It is now possible largely
to eliminate organics in less than 20 years, enhancing the production of methane during this period. Leachate is recirculated; none
is sent to sewers. Double and even triple bottom liners are standard
to prevent any leakage, and permeable or semipermeable covers are
used to allow the controlled entry of water into the landfill during
this period. Once the bioreactor has effectively cooked the organic
contents, the permeable covers are replaced by watertight caps, the
leachate is pumped out, and the landfill is left in a dry entombed
state, awaiting its turn to be mined.
With landfills being phased out, the material recycle facility has
become the mainstay of the waste management system. All waste
goes initially to the material recycle facility, where recyclables are
separated and packaged for sale. We are fascinated by the technologies that have been developed to separate different recyclable materials. One machine separates the different plastics by using barcode scanner technology to read the plastic symbols. Another
machine separates glass by color as well as by size of fragments.
Everything has become highly mechanized, and very little scrap is
left over. The final products are baled and packaged as they come
off the sorting lines to the exact size and specification required by
customers.
Processing recyclable materials has become a major growth industry. The brightest, most creative young men and women choose
careers in developing new recycling technologies and designing new
products from recycled materials.
An interesting development is that industrial parks have sprouted
up around the major waste management facilities. Dozens of small
industries have attached themselves to recycle centres and landfill
mining projects in a symbiotic relationship that furthers the conservation ethic. These companies are very innovative and entrepreneurial in recovering, refurbishing, and reselling every conceivable
type of material, including car parts, white goods such as refrigerators and stoves, scrap metal, small appliances, and electronics. Small
manufacturing industries produce a large variety of products using

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recycled materials to decrease their costs and give them a competitive edge.
These "scavenger" industries, in concert with the very thorough
recycling programs and incineration, ensure that only a very minimal amount of waste actually goes to disposal. Energy production,
either from burning methane or from waste incineration, has also
been a contributing factor in the growth of these industrial parks.
There are jobs in working at the power plants, and the availability
of cheap power has attracted industries that can use landfill gas
either in their processesfor example, to manufacture carbon dioxideor to fire their boilers, or to supplement their own naturalgas-fired cogeneration systems.
We are amazed at how the garbage business has escaped from
yesteryear's stigma of being dirty, smelly, and unwanted, to an association with industry, jobs, and opportunity. The industrial-park
aspect of recycle centers and landfill mining projects has been a
significant contributor to overcoming the NIMBY syndrome, and
now communities compete to attract these industrial centers.
Composting facilities are integral parts of these centers, using
primarily in-vessel and enclosed systems. By law, every home must
have a composter. The ample supply of high-quality compost has
led to an increase in vegetable and flower gardens, which has had
a beneficial effect on health through improved diet. In addition,
public parks are flourishing, and every city we visit is attractively
decorated with flowers and plants. There is an underlying sense of
civic pride that is sadly missing from our own era.
Reduction in waste volume is considered an integral part of
properly managing waste. For this reason, incineration is an important component of both the landfill mining programs and recycle centers. Instead of being ugly objects of scorn, as in the past,
many incinerators now are the heart of community centers, surrounded by swimming pools and greenhouses that are heated by
the energy they produce. These centers are emblazoned with colorful gardens nurtured by compost from adjoining composting facilities. Because of ongoing concern for human health and the atmosphere, pollution control technology has evolved considerably
and air emissions from incinerators have decreased substantially.
Nevertheless, in response to the public's seemingly unlimited
appetite for environmental information, electronic billboards are
installed near incinerators and display instantaneous readings of
stack emissions for all to see.

FUTURISTIC GARBOLOGY

By law, all incinerators must generate useful energy, either as

district heat, process heat, or electricity. It is estimated that more
than 15,000 megawatts of electricity are generated annually by waste
incineration in North America. Combined with energy from landfill methane, this not only saves renewable resources such as oil but
also significantly reduces emissions of greenhouse and acid gases
into the atmosphere.
A major breakthrough has been the development of beneficial
uses for incinerator ash. New epoxy technologies combined with
engineering developments in concrete have led to use of ash from
garbage incinerators and also from coal-fired power stations and
other ash-generating industries, as a construction material. This has
not only greatly reduced the amount of material going to landfill
but has also decreased the demand for aggregate, which was becoming very expensive owing to dwindling supplies, and thus has
helped preserve natural areas from quarrying.
We learn that the three Rs ethic affects not just garbage, but many
other areas as well. For example, the consumption of all natural
resourceswater, electricity, natural gas, petroleum products, and
morehas decreased noticeably. The dire predictions of energy
shortages have been offset in large part by the "garbage electricity"
from methane and incineration, in conjunction with this conservation ethic. The per capita demand for electricity and other energy
sources has declined to approximately 55% of what it was in our
era. Many small non-utility generating stations, based mostly on
hydro, solar, and wind, have sprung up and make a substantial
contribution to the national electricity grid.
Just before we return to our own time, we catch a late-breaking
news story announcing that in the past year, not only did the amount
of refuse generated decrease to 0.7 kg per person (about 35% of what
was being produced in 1998), but 93% of this was diverted from
landfills.
A sense of melancholy settles over us as the transporter brings
us back through the decades to the present. Although the future we
have seen is a good one, we wonder whether it was only a dream, a
small piece of virtual-reality fiction. We also muse on whether it
would be possible to instill the futuristic conservation ethic in
today's society, before the globe is thrust into a dark abyss of crisis.
Certainly, almost all the waste management technologies we observed in the future are within our reach today. But, sadly, one essential element is missing: our own resolve and determination.

263

264

THE WASTE CRISIS

Discussion Topics and Assignments

1. Do you think that the world will be plunged into an environmental and resource crisis in the future? Describe what
you think will happen, assuming a worst-case scenario.
2. What can be done to instil a "futuristic conservation ethic"
in today's society?
3. Describe how you think a more environmentally conscientious future society would manage its waste. What parts
of the scenario presented in this chapter do you agree or
disagree with?

GLOSSARY

Acid gases: primarily sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and nitrogen oxides emitted by waste incinerators and fossil-fuel power
plants.
Aerobic: requiring oxygen (in contrast to anaerobic).
Alpha particle: a positively charged particle consisting of two neutrons and two protons emitted from the nuclei of radioactive
elements.
Anaerobic: not requiring oxygen (in contrast to aerobic).
Anesthetic/narcotic: consciousness-attacking.
Bacteria: single-celled microorganisms lacking chlorophyll, some
of which perform useful functions in the human body. Diseases
such as diphtheria, tetanus, and botulism are caused by toxinproducing bacteria.
Baghouse: a pollution control device used with incinerators, in
which particulate matter in exhaust gases is captured by a series
of fabric bags.
Bentonite: a type of clay mineral that expands when moist.
Beta particle: electron emitted from the nuclei of some radioactive
elements.
Biodegradable: material that can be broken down or decomposed
into simpler substances by bacteria. Paper and most organic
wastes are biodegradable.
Biomedical waste: waste containing toxic compounds associated
with living cells.
BOD: Biological Oxygen Demand, the amount of dissolved oxygen
needed by aerobic decomposers to break down the organic mate265

266

GLOSSARY

rials in a given volume of water over a specified period of time.

It is a measure of the amount of biodegradable organic material
in the fluid being measured.
Carcinogenic: cancer-causing.
Clay: extremely fine-grained sediment consisting of hydrous silicate minerals.
COD: Chemical Oxygen Demand, the amount of oxygen consumed
(in parts per million) in the oxidation of organic and oxidizable
inorganic matter in industrial waste water.
Composting: a method of solid waste management in which the
organic component is biologically decomposed under controlled
conditions to a state where it can be used as a soil amendment
without adverse environmental impact.
DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid, the long-chained double-helix molecules in the nuclei of living cells that contain genetic information.
EPA: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, responsible for
managing federal efforts to control air and water pollution, radiation and pesticide hazards, ecological research, and solid waste
disposal.
Epidemiology: the study of the causes of diseases among a
population.
Fission products: isotopes created when a larger element, usually
uranium-235, is split apart. They generally have relatively short
decay times of seconds to decades.
Flocculation: process whereby suspended colloidal particles combine to form clumps, usually implemented so that they can be
filtered or settled out of water.
Gamma ray: electromagnetic radiation emitted by the nuclei of
some radioactive elements.
Geogrids: plastics with a very open, strong, gridlike structure (i.e.,
large aperture), used to provide reinforcement.
Geomembranes: thin sheets of impervious rubber or plastic used
as liquid or vapor barriers.
Geonets: parallel sets of polymeric ribs at acute angles to each other,
used to provide drainage for fluids.
Geotextiles: similar to regular textiles but made of synthetic fibres
rather than natural ones. Flexible and porous, they are generally used to separate materials of different particle size, for example, to prevent a sand layer from leaking into a stone layer,
while allowing gases and fluids to pass. They can also be used
for reinforcement.

GLOSSARY

Hazardous waste: waste that contains compounds toxic or hazardous to humans or to the environment; that is, waste that can
catch fire easily (ignitable), is corrosive to skin tissue or metals,
is unstable (reactive), or contains harmful concentrations of toxic
materials that can leach out.
HDPE: high-density polyethylene, a polymeric membrane in the
form of sheets, used in landfill covers and bottom liners.
Hematopoietic: blood-attacking.
Hepatotoxic: liver-attacking.
Hydraulic conductivity: a measure of the ability of a substance to
transmit water.
ICI: Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional; for example, ICI
waste.
Impermeable: does not allow a fluid to pass through; e.g., an impermeable landfill liner.
Ionizing radiation: alpha, beta, and gamma radiation with sufficient
energy to dislodge electrons from atoms, forming charged ions
that can react with and damage living tissue.
Isotopes: different forms of the same chemical element which are
distinguished by having different numbers of neutrons, but the
same number of protons, in the nucleus of their atoms. A single
element may have many isotopes.
LC50: the lethal concentration of a chemical, at which 50% of exposed organisms die in a laboratory test.
LD50: the lethal dose of a chemical it takes to kill 50% of the organisms exposed in a laboratory test. This parameter describes the
toxicity of a substance.
Leachate: a fluid formed in a landfill.
Leachate collection system: an engineered system of pipes placed
above the bottom liner of a landfill to collect and pump leachate
from the landfill.
LLRW: low-level radioactive waste.
Mercaptans: substances belonging to the group of organic compounds resembling alcohols, but with the oxygen of the hydroxyl
group replaced by sulfur. Many of these compounds are characterized by a strong, repulsive odor.
Methanogenic: producing methane; methanogenic bacteria create
methane from organic compounds.
Microbiological waste: see Biomedical Waste.
Mil: one-thousandth of an inch.
MOE: Ministry of Environment (Ontario, Canada).

267

268

GLOSSARY

MOEE: Ministry of Environment and Energy (Ontario, Canada).

MRF: materials recovery facility, where recyclable products are
separated, packaged, and stored until shipped to market.
Nephrotoxic: kidney-attacking.
Neurotoxic: nervous system-attacking.
NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard, a social phenomenon of strong local
resistance to accepting landfills and other undesirable facilities
in the community.
Opacity: optical density of a substance; the opposite of transparency. Smoke with high opacity is difficult to see through.
PAH: polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
Pathogen: an organism or substance that produces disease.
PCB: polychlorinated biphenyls.
Permeability: the capacity of a soil or rock for transmitting fluids.
pH: numeric measure of the relative acidity or alkalinity of a substance on a scale of 0 to 14, with the neutral point at 7. Acid solutions have pH values below 7, and basic solutions have pH
values greater than 7.
Piezometer: a device placed in a borehole to measure subsurface
groundwater head or pressure.
PM10: particulate matter that is less than 10 microns in diameter.
Polymers: long-chain molecules made up of many small molecules.
Pozzolans: siliceous substances, such as fly ash and pumice, used
in making cement.
ppm: parts per million.
Precambrian: period of geologic time before the Paleozoic, that is,
older than about 570 million years.
RCRA: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a U.S. federal law
regulating landfills.
RDF: refuse-derived fuel, waste that has been processed to form a
uniform fuel for incinerators.
Reduction: a process of cooking garbage used at the turn of the century to extract a variety of marketable byproducts, such as grease.
Risk assessment: the process of gathering data and making assumptions to estimate quantitatively the harmful effects on human
health or the environment from exposure to hazards associated
with the use of a particular substance or technology.
Sanitary landfill: an engineered method of disposing solid wastes
on land by spreading the waste in thin layers, compacting it to
the smallest practical volume, and covering it with soil by the end
of each working day.

GLOSSARY

Scrubber: pollution-control device used with incinerators (and

fossil-fuel power plants) that removes acid gases by injecting a
lime slurry into the exhaust gases.
Sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.
TDS: total dissolved solids.
Till: unsorted sediment deposited by a glacier.
Tipping fees: the charge, usually per tonne, for depositing waste
at a landfill.
Transuranic isotopes: isotopes created when uranium-235 absorbs
alpha or beta particles. These generally have very long decay times
of thousands of years.
Tuff: volcanic ash that has been compressed so that it becomes rock.
Virus: infectious agents much smaller than bacteria which need to
grow in an animal, plant, or bacterial cell. Some viral infectious
diseases include smallpox, measles, chicken pox, the common
cold, rabies, and viral pneumonia.
VOC: volatile organic compounds.
Windrow: organic materials placed in long rows for composting.
WTE: waste-to-energy, referring to waste incinerators that generate electricity.

269

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INDEX

concrete and cement, 175-76

constraint mapping, 91
consumerism, 25
cost (analysis), 36-38, 133, ISOSI, 222
Cousteau, Jacques, 135
crisis, 19, 28-30

ash. See incinerator

asphalt/bitumen, 176
baghouse. See incinerator
pollution control
Baltic Sea, 134-135, 212
biodegradation. See waste
decomposition
Black Death, 21
botanicals. See pesticides
bottom ash. See incinerator ash
carbamates. See pesticides
chemicals. See organic
compounds, inorganic
compounds
clay materials, 171-73
closure and post-closure care,
120-21, 196
composting
aerated static pile, 56-57
central, 55-58
definition, 51, 53
Guelph Wet-Dry Facility, 18690

home, 54-55
in-vessel, 57-59
process, 5354
windrow, 56

deep-well injection/disposal,
139-40, 208-9
dioxins and furans, 156-57
disposal
deep burial, 143, 211-17, 260
polar ice cap, 141
shooting into outer space, 142
sub-seabed, 142
Eagle Mountain Landfill, 201-5
East Carbon Landfill, 197-201
electrostatic precipitator. See
incinerator pollution
control
environmental monitoring, 11719
epidemiology, 79
fly ash. See incinerator ash
Fresh Kills Landfill, 5, 192-97
future generations, 14-15, 246

277

278

INDEX

garbage. See waste

Garbage Project, 62-63, 67,
103-4

gas(es). See landfill

geogrids, 168
geomembranes, 168
geonets, 168
geosynthetics, 168
geotextiles, 168
glassification, 177-78
groundwater, 27
Guelph Wet-Dry Recycling
Centre, 179-92
high-BTU gas, 116
incineration, 4, 23, 28, 41, 14565, 207-8, 262-63
incinerator(s)
air emissions, 153-59
ash, 136, 159-63, 220, 263
cement kilns, 150
floating, 136
fluidized bed, 149
mass-burn, 147-48, 217-23
modular, 148
pollution control, 154-55,
221-22
refuse-derived fuel, 148-49
rotary kiln, 149-50, 207-8
injection with hydrofracturing,
140-41
inorganic compounds, 74-75
intrusion, 121
Lancaster County Incinerator,
217-23
land (as a resource), 67
landfill(s)
area method, 93
Barnwell, SC, 231-32
comparison of municipal
landfill & Swedish
repository, 216-17
cover, 95-97

decomposition, 103-7
engineered, 27, 31
future developments, 122-23
gases, 8, 111-17, 196, 204-5
leachate, 107-11, 195
leaking, 7
liners, 97-99, 167-73, 199200, 204, 209
mining, 130-34
in New York City, 23,
192-93
in Ontario, 6
operation, 100-3
sanitary, 26-27, 30-31
settlement, stability, 119,
195-96
shape, 93-94
siting, 29, 89-93
trench method, 93
leachate. See landfill
liners. See landfill
London Dumping Convention,
136-37
low-level radioactive waste
(LLRW). See waste
radioactive
material recycle facilities
(MRFs), 48-52, 183-86,
261
membranes. See landfill liners
metals, 75, 177
methane. See landfill gases
mines, 125-30, 201-5
Mobro, 19
NIMBY, 30, 90, 225-44
nuclear waste. See waste
radioactive
ocean dumping, 134-38, 192
organic compounds
chlorinated solvents, 71
non-chlorinated solvents, 71
pesticides, 72-74

INDEX

petroleum hydrocarbons, 72
poly-chlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), 72
polynuclear aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), 72
organochlorines. See pesticides
organophosphates. See
pesticides
pesticides, 72-74
petrochemicals, 2526
pollution control. See
incinerator
polymers, 168-69
rail haulage, 198-99, 260
RCRA, 28
recycling, 3, 33-34, 38-43, 4548,222-23
reduction, 23
risk assessment, 81-83, 162
scrubber. See incinerator
pollution control
seams. See landfill liners
site selection, 89-93, 237-239
sustainable development, 12-14
Swan Hills Treatment Centre,
205-11, 235-37
Swedish repository, 211-17
toxic compounds, 78-81 (See
also waste, hazardous)

toxicity. See toxic compounds

trace gases. See landfill gases
vinyl chloride, 114 (See also
landfill gases)
vitrification, 177-78
Waring, George E., Jr., 22
waste
characteristics, 76-86
classified by chemical
composition, 70-71
classified by generator, 61-62
decomposition, 103-7
half-life, 83
hazard, 78-83
hazardous, 64, 66-68, 128
hazardous lifetime, 83-85
industrial, 65-66
microbiological, 75-76
municipal solid, 62-65
radioactive, 68-70, 85-86,
127-29, 211-17, 228-35
thermal value, 77
treatment, 173-78, 207-8
waste management
futuristic, 257-63
hierarchy, 251-52
history, 19-32
integrated, 33-38, 217
in Japan, 42-43
non-technical issues, 252-54
principles, 14-15, 245-47

279