One of the basic conceptual approaches to water management at landfill sites is to hydrologically limit the generation of leachate during all stages of facility development in favor of producing larger amounts of non-polluted surface water run-off. However, there are some negative aspects to such an approach: 1) regulatory monitoring requirements are customarily not focused on the detection of potentially large amounts of contaminants which can be repeatedly released into the environment by means of storm water run-off; 2) subsequent to the required 30-year, post-closure monitoring and maintenance activities, common dry-or even wet-type landfills will in principle still pose a threat to the surrounding water environment; 3) a landfill is usually designed to function as an independent technological unit from the inception of the facility to the post-closure stage of its development. A different conceptual approach was undertaken at a pilot scale landfill complex in Ajdovščina, Slovenia, implementing landfill technology that combines the following interrelated elements to function together within a holistically designed system: 1) light waste compaction; 2) passive landfill aeration; 3) landfill bioreactor flushing; 4) landfill interior transient water storage and 5) inclusion of completed landfill sections into a common water catchment and recirculation area.
Data presented in this paper are related to the research article “Long-term risk assessments comparing environmental performance of different types of sanitary landfills'’ (Madon et al., 2019). Overall environmental risks were quantitatively assessed by calculating probabilities that an assumed aquifer lying directly below the landfill of a particular type will be polluted due to landfill-derived impacts as long as the pollution potential referring to each of the four types which were compared exists. A specific model was built for the purpose, described in the companion MethodX article (Madon et al., 2019). Uncertainty was taken in consideration by attributing input parameters required for modeling with probability distributions. When loosely defined groups of landfills are to be compared, which was the objective of the related research article, these distributions can be nothing but approximate and spread out, however, the values tend to cluster together around the averages which are characteristic for particular landfill types. Secondary data from scientific literature were mostly used to estimate probability density functions for the inputs, however, when referring to one of the four landfill types which were compared, primary data were used as well. The resultant outputs derived by running Monte Carlo simulations are given as time dependent variables. In this article, probability distributions for the outputs are graphically presented comparing environmental performance of different landfill types.
Usually, a landfill is designed to function as an independent technological unit from the inception of the facility to the post closure stage of its development. However, sustainable technologies like in-situ aeration and landfill flushing dramatically shorten the duration of aftercare period. The aftercare phase comes to an end when the actual emissions appear to be so low that the site can be abandoned with essentially no risk to environmental quality and public health. Closed sections, if rapidly stabilised, offer an opportunity for real-time land reclamation for the establishment of waste recycling and recovery activities there while the landfill is still active as well as afterwards. Environmental, logistic and other infrastructure already present at the site are very much applicable for purposes of integrated waste management, too. In this way, a landfill site is slowly transformed into an integrated waste management complex diverting more and more waste away from burial in the landfill. This process may last a decade or two. After the post-closure care period ends the operator is still actively present on-site which simplifies liability concerns. Additionally, synergistic effects can result in significant economic benefits for the owner and the operator, which can be considered as the money held in escrow for purposes of covering post-closure costs. In the case of a small pilot-scale Slovenian landfill, these costs appear to be very low because its design was focused on issues like socioeconomic sustainability and rapid waste stabilization. Since waste disposal of untreated MSW is still widespread in low-income countries today, the approach could be of current interest for smaller, self dependent urban areas in developing countries.
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