Priorities in the progression from “Dumps” to Engineered Landfills
As India begins to gear up for the new Landfill 2006 Act requirements, we look at the first steps toward compliance with improved waste management standards.
India is no different from many developing nations in seeking to upgrade problem landfills on limited budgets. Clearly, each landfill site presents a unique challenge and the top priorities for each will vary according to circumstances.
However, here is our listing in order of priority:-
- Community Recycling is fine, and can take many forms, but our number one priority is that it must to be carried out before the waste is tipped at the landfill. The very severe Health Hazards when picking takes place on the landfill, especially in the presence of Clinical Waste, make elimination of site scavenging the first priority. The installation and maintenance of site perimeter fencing and the introduction of an enforced site security policy, should be achieve this. This may be in conjunction with a policy of employing previous site scavengers within the security team.
- As a minimum first step, while fencing is installed, Clinical Waste should be segregated and buried below municipal waste in a separate cell area, and covered to a depth which will prevent overnight access, before the end of each day.
- Cap your landfills. A low permeability capping will slow down the release of emissions from the landfill, and this will reduce the impact on the local environment. (However, do take care not to create a landfill gas migration problem around the perimeter of the site.)
- Place new cells on a layer of material which will filter the water percolating into the waste and then running out of it as “leachate”. This is known as creating an “unsaturated zone”. This filter is designed to remain aerobic, and to allow the leachate to seep out very slowly, so that “cation exchange” and biological treatment can take place. Enviros has carried out extensive research on “unsaturated zone” design, funded by the UK Department during the 1980’s and 1990’s in the UK.
- Only after the above have been done create “containment landfills”: line the base of the landfill, install basal drainage and leachate wells, cap the site with a low permeability cap and treat the leachate collected.
Enviros has been designing landfills, and supervising landfill development contractors, for the 25 years, and wrote most of the United Kingdom Environment Agency best practise guidance (known as Waste Management Papers).
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