Landfill Design

Design Construction Preparation Operation

The formulation of The actions to built the The engineering works associated
the plan for the landform, incorporating with the base, lining, monitoring,
landfill project. all parts of the facility. environmental control and
infrastructure items of the facility.

The waste strategy policy on landfill is to promote landfill practices, which will achieve
stabilisation of landfill sites within one generation. A generation = 30-50 years.

Pre-treatment of wastes results in:

• Less bioreactive waste
• Reduce the quantity of waste requiring disposal
 Landfill Design Cont.
The relevant matters to be considered in a planning application for a landfill site include:
• Adjacent development and population
• Agricultural land quality
• Air quality
• Wind pattern
• Flood plain
• River
• Subsurface geology
• Haul distance
• Distance from main road
• Land value
• Archaeological interests
• Duration of the development
• Ecology and nature conservation interests
• Landscape and visual amenity
• Local amenity (noise, dust, odour, litter)
• Mineral and other material assets
• Nature and amount of wastes
• Other designated areas or buildings of importance in the vicinity
• Restoration to an appropriate after use
• Road and transport networks
• Services (gas, electricity, water)
• Surface and groundwater
Lower Polmaise landfill site
Stirling Council has been fined £7500 after leachate from its lower Polmaise landfill site polluted the river Forth.
(ENDS Report)

The lower polmaise landfill site once received more than 90% of Stirling Counci’s household and commercial
waste but closed in 2004. The leachate will require to be treated until 2030.
(Gazetter for Scotland)

Stirling council found to be illegally dumping bins (March 2005)

Stirling council has been served with an enforcement notice, after the discovery that it was dumping wheeled
bins illegally at one of its landfills.

” We were experimenting with the use of wheelie bins as part of an access road. Somehow around 100 bins
ended up being buried in the landfill “
– Stirling council

A spokesman for the council said: “Of around 38,000 green bins which needed recycling about 2,000 ended up
at the landfill site.
 
SEPA have now issued Stirling council with an enforcement notice, which requires it to take immediate steps to
comply with its licence conditions. This includes removal of all wheeled bins illegally deposited at Polmaise.
 Landfill Design Cont.

• At main design stage : a detailed site investigation and EIA.

• A risk assessment should also be carried out to establish: the

nature of the waste and prediction of the degradation
processes. Site characteristics, and proposed after use.

• Risk assessment can quantify the probability distribution for a

derived seepage rate for a given liner/landfill situation. In this
way an appropriate liner specification can be derived
incorporating suitable safety margins. Excessive over-
designing should be avoided as this can itself contravene the
principles of sustainable development.
 Design of the Landform

1) Maximum and minimum surface gradient

Guidance on the suitability of slopes for various after use is given in WMP26E.

In general final gradients after settlement no flatter than 1 in 25 will ensure

adequate drainage and will minimise ponding problems created by local differential
settlement.

2) Capacity. Net capacity available will depend on the:

 
Density of the waste, amount of daily cover, amount of settlement, thickness of
capping layer, lining and drainage layers.
Site Investigation
 Above the Ground landfill sites
Landraising (above the ground) has some design and operational
adavantages:
 
• Gravity drainage of leachate to the outside of the site
• Leachate drainage system can be made more accessible for
inspection/maintenance
• Substantial thickness of unsaturated zone beneath the site
can be provided
• Sites selection on their technical merits rather than by the
location of former quarry
• Edges can be uniformly designed and constructed (lining of
vertical quarry walls!)
• Gas migration control is facilitated.
 Example
An above the ground landfill to be designed in a level
surface 500 m x 300m for a community with 70, 000
houses. The maximum height 5 m and slope of the
sides using geotextiles 1 in 3. Assuming that each
house produces 20 kg of waste per week and the
density of disposed waste after compaction is 900
kg/m3, calculate the operational life of this landfill
without taking into account any settlement.
 Calculations
Volume of landfill:
(((470 x 270) + (500 x 300))/2 ) x 5 = 692250 m3

Capacity 692250 x 900 /1000 = 623025 tonnes

Waste produced:
70000 x 20 = 1400,000 kg = 1400 tonnes/Week

623025 / 1400 = 445 weeks = 8.5 years

Sixteen people died when heavy rains triggered a landslide in
Maputo’s dump, near Mozambique’s capital where rubbish towers
15 m above the people who have made their homes on its fringes.
A lack of adequate housing to meet the high demand in MaMaputo,
the country’s economic hub, has driven people to set up homes
Around the dump. Some fleeing the war in rural areas further north
came to seek refuge in urban centres like Maputo.

Mozambique rubbish dump collapse kills 17…

Sri Lanka dump collapse: Dozens still trapped under rubbish….
Shenzhen, north of Hong Kong, Dec 20, 2015 – at least 69 people
were killed by the collapse of a construction waste site due to
landslide…..
Parties involved in contract management:

• Employer (owner/landfill operator- individual or a corporate

body)
• Designer
• Contractor
• Project manager (Management and supervision of the works)
• Quality engineer (Independent)
• Regulator (SEPA, EA )
 Site Investigation
Objectives of site investigation
 
• Suitability of the site
• Baseline conditions of the site
• Development and implementation of a monitoring programme
• Engineering design of the site
 
Scope of investigations
 
• History and background
• Extent of any contamination
• Presence/absence of topsoil and subsoil (for liners and restoration)
• Presence/absence of any deposits for cover layer or other engineering work
• Depth and nature of underlying deposits
• Depth and characteristics of unsaturated zone and water table
• Groundwater flow and quantity
• Geotechnical and hydraulic properties of materials at the site
• Flow rate and quality data for surface streams, springs and areas of standing water
• Potential flow paths for leachate and gas
 Cont.

Process
 
• Desk study and site reconnaissance
• Preliminary field investigation ( boreholes trial pits or probes, good quality
photographs)
• Design of fieldwork
• Field investigation
• Main site investigation (identification of all significant pathways, and
targets for gas and leachate)
• Supplementary site investigation (as the design progresses shortfalls in
data may become evident)
• Monitoring ( base levels, to assess the environmental impacts associated
with the proposed development) To determine the assumptions used for the
risk assessment were correct.
• reporting
 Cont.
Design aspects:

•Maximum and minimum surface gradient

•Capacity
•Settlement
•Waste density

•Guidance on the suitability of slopes for various after use is given in WMP26E.
 
•For household, general industrial and commercial wastes a slope of 1 in 4 will generally
provide an acceptable factor of safety.  

•In general final gradients after settlement no flatter than 1 in 25 will ensure adequate
drainage and will minimise ponding problems created by local differential settlement.
 
 
 Cont.
Capacity
 
• At the conceptual design stage gross air space can be calculated by
comparing the existing landform with the proposed restoration profile.
 
• Aerial survey offers a rapid method of topographic survey and void space
calculation. The GPS can be useful.

Net capacity available will depend on the

• Density of the waste

• Amount of daily cover
• Amount of settlement
• Thickness of capping layer
• Lining and drainage layers
 Cont.
Settlement
 
• Initial settlement occurs because of the physical rearrangement of
the waste material after it is first placed in the landfill. Later
settlement mainly results from biochemical degradation of the
waste, which in turn leads to further physical settlement.
 
• Initial settlement values of between 12 and 17% have been reported
for household waste sites in the UK with long term (30 years) values
of approximately 20%.
 
• Values of 15 – 20% are accepted as being typical of the surcharge
allowance that may need to be made when considering the void
capacity.
 Cont.
 
Densities
 
• Reported densities range from lows of 400 kg/m3 to highs of 1230 kg/m3 , with
more generally recorded values of 650 to 850 kg/m3 . For planning purposes a
density range of between 650 to 1000 kg/m3 for bio reactive wastes should be
assumed.
 
• The landfill designer should consider carefully the implications of the density
assumed. The density assumed will affect, or be affected by the
 
• Depth of the site;
• Type of compaction to be used;
• Absorptive capacity and field capacity;
• Permeability of the waste, where leachate recirculation is intended.

The designer should clarify whether the density assumed is of waste only, or of waste
and daily cover.
 Phasing
It is good practice to develop, operate and restore landfills in a series of phases of sufficient
size.
 Objectives of phasing:
 
• At any given time part of the site may be capped and restored, part being prepared to
receive waste, and part undisturbed, with only a small area being actively filled;

• To reduce leachate generation by keeping areas of active and unrestored tipping to a

minimum;

• To enable progressive installation of leachate and gas controls;

• To enable progressive restoration;

• To segregate clean surface water run-off both within and outside the site;
 
• To co-ordinate haul roads and access routes;

• To phase development and restoration expenditure.

 
 Phase size
• A phase is a sub-area of a landfill site, which has been identified at
the planning stage as being able to meet the above objectives.

• Cells are generally sub-divisions of phases and are planned and set
out by site staff for operational requirements.

• Each phase with a life of between 12 and 18 months.

• Phases are generally filled from base to capping layer and then
capped and restored , leaving a temporary unrestored face sloping
to the landfill base.
 
• Slope of the face between 1 in 2 and 1 in 3.
 Material Requirements

• ground water drainage - granular material

• lining - clay, sand , geomembrane

 
• leachate drainage blankets - granular material
 
• gas venting and collection - granular material
 
• haul road - hardcore
 
• daily cover
 
• capping layer
 
• pipework zone, drainage and protection layers above the barrier layer

• restoration layer - sub soil and topsoil

 Groundwater Management
In most cases the site and liner system will be
located above the groundwater table.
Sites located below the water table may have
seepages from either the base or sides, which will
require management.
It will be necessary to relieve hydrostatic pressures
to prevent uplifting forces on the site liner and lead
to potential instability. In such cases an under
drainage system will be required.
Pumping of groundwater is not an environmentally
sustainable option.
 Surface Water Management
• Outside rainwater should be intercepted and
channelled away to watercourses. The channels may
require a low permeability lining to prevent leakage
into the landfill.

• Rain falling on active tipping area should be

collected separately and managed as leachate.
 
• Water from non-active area should be diverted away
from tipping areas and directed through a settling
pond to remove suspended silt, before discharging.
 Leachate Management
• Leachate must be removed from the site for disposal or recirculation.
 
• Good leachate management system accelerates stabilisation.

• A knowledge of the likely leachate generation is essential at the conceptual design stage.
 
A water balance calculation is used:
 
Lo = (ER + LIW + IRA ) - ( LTP + aW + DL)
 
Where: Lo = free leachate retained
ER = effective rainfall (Scotland - 3000 mm in the Western Highlands and 800 mm in the
east coast – In Oman Average 20 – 100 mm rainfall annually!)
LIW = liquid industrial waste
IRA = infiltration through restored and capped area
LTP = discharge of leachate off-site
a = unit absorptive capacity of wastes
W = weight of absorptive waste
DL = designed seepage
 Leachate Management
 
Leachate removal from collection sumps:
 
Pumping in vertical wells or chimneys

Submersible pumps have been used satisfactorily for many

years.

Manholes and wells - pre-cast concrete is convenient but

prone to physical damage;
HDPE is also commonly used;
The minimum size 300 mm dia.
 Accelerated Stabilisation
Recirculation of leachate;

Waste characteristics - material recovery and addition of sewage sludge or other nutrients;

The heat losses through the cap, base and walls and via the leachate drainage and gas
extraction should be reduced;
 
Air admission, whether due to overpumping of gas or to poor sealing and atmospheric
pressure changes may reduce the rate of decomposition both by poisoning anaerobic
bacteria and by direct cooling;
 
M/C of the waste is very important for both the rate of decomposition and the flushing of
inorganic components. Pre-treatment of the waste could achieve more uniform
distribution of m/c;
 
An effective gas removal system will help accelerated stabilisation;
 
The use of inappropriate daily cover can impede the vertical movement of leachate and gas
through wastes. Daily cover should be restricted to high permeability or biodegradable
materials only, or removed prior to placement of subsequent wastes.
 Landfill Gas Management
Objectives:
 
• To minimise the risk of gas migration (explosion, combustion, asphyxiation,
odours or vegetation damage on adjoining property);
 
• To avoid underground fires;
 
• To minimise damage to soils and vegetation within the restored landfill area;

• To minimise the impact on air quality (greenhouse gases, global climate);

• Risk assessment will determine the appropriate level of landfill gas

management ;
 
• WM PAPER 27.
 
 LFG Cont.
Gas wells:
 May be either vertical boreholes passing
through the waste or horizontal pipes laid in
the waste lifts as landfilling progresses.
Horizontal wells in deep landfills can suffer
blockage and dislocation due to differential
settlement. Their use is generally restricted to
shallow landfills (less than about 10 m deep).
For vertical wells the potential effects of
settlement on the well should be assessed.
 LFG Cont.
Normally the gas extraction systems have
vertical extraction wells linked by pipework in
the capping system to a gas pumping and
flaring compound. The wells could be
constructed as waste filling progresses or
drilled retrospectively. The layout of
collection wells should be considered at the
design stage.
 Landfill liners
Selection of liner system is a site specific process
 
The performance objectives for a landfill liner system:
• To control seepage of leachate ;
• To assist in controlling the migration of landfill gas;
• To retain consistent performance in its operating
environment for the required design life and to be
compatible with the expected leachate and gas
composition and temperature;
• To assist in the control of any groundwater ingress into
the landfill which can cause an unmanageable increase in
leachate volume.
 Cut-off Walls

These may be constructed around a landfill to

intercept off-site migration of landfill gas or to
contain leachate or to divert clean groundwater
entering a site. Cut-off walls are typically keyed
into low permeability or saturated strata.
 Cut-off Walls Cont.

Several methods are available to form cut-off walls or

barriers around excavations, including:
• Steel sheet-piling
• Slurry trench walls
• Concrete diaphragm walls
• Bored pile walls
• Grout barriers
• Mix-in-place barriers
• Artificial ground freezing