AREA A/B ENGINEERING REPORT - Waste Management

7.4 Increased Beneficial End Use Options for Closed Landfill Properties
Geosyntec Consultants
With open space shrinking and environmental awareness and stewardship
expanding, more and more communities see the value of productive use of
closed landfill sites. Landfills are designed from the outset with the intent for
safe and potentially productive use of the site after its useful life as an
active waste disposal facility has ended. Proactive “wet landfill” or
bioreactor operational practices that enhance waste degradation probably
provide the best means to achieve faster reductions in the level of PCC
required at a landfill and enhanced flexibility in end use options.
Landfill sites can be grouped into four broad categories in terms of beneficial end use:
• Open space or wildlife habitat;
• Limited agricultural or passive recreational use;
• Use for active recreation, parking, or industrial/commercial activities; or
• Intensive uses such industrial or commercial development.
Availability of the landfill property for land-use options requiring the least maintenance of the
final cover system is facilitated by:
• “Wet landfill” or bioreactor technology or other enhanced waste degradation
techniques (as discussed in Section 7.1); and/or
• Design and use of passive engineering features, including:
o Wetlands or tree farms for leachate treatment and discharge (as discussed in
Section 3.3.4);
o Earthen cover “store and release” systems, tree-covered “phytocaps”, or bioactive
covers and biovent systems (as discussed in Sections 3.4 and 3.5); and
o Other passive, self-sustaining natural analogs that mimic local ecosystems as
closely as possible.
In this way, an end use for the landfill property can be developed that serves as a community
asset, requiring minimal or no long-term active maintenance or PCC while remaining protective of
human health and the environment. 26
26 A technical summary of the published body of knowledge related to these topics and a bibliography of seminal
references is provided in Appendix C.
MD10186.doc 94 29 March 2009