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University of Padua IMAGE Department |
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Landfilling: EU Directive |
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Short history of Waste Disposal |
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3000 BC Multistoried buildings in the Indian town Mohendjo-Daro had “Waste Slides“ which ended in huge receptacles outside the buildings Time turn Waste Disposal in the valley Kidron in front of the gates of Jerusalem Time turn Emperor Augustus established an office for Waste Disposal because of the heavily Soiling of the river Tiber 1350 ¼ of the European Civilization died by Plague because of insufficient Waste Disposal and Sewage Systems in Europe 1866 The Biologist Ernst Haeckel established the term “Ecology“ 1876 First Waste Incineration Plant of Europe installed in England 1970 1990 Institution of Environmental Ministry in many European Countries 1980 2000 Waste production in the EU as a whole has increased at an average of 60% 1999 In force European Council Directive 1999/31/EC ( “Landfill Directive”) |
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Landfilling |
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Today: • Waste management in the EU has undergone a major revolution over the last two decades, with an important shift towards policies of waste minimisation, incineration, recycling and reuse, but • Landfilling, despite being the least acceptable alternative in the waste management hierarchy, accounts for an average of 66 % of the total waste produced in the EU as a whole. • Also, many of the currently operating landfills are rapidly running out of space, so new landfill capacity is urgently needed. • Siting of landfills is a major political and environmental issue within the EU also in the light of the upsurge of the ‘NIMBY (not in my backyard)’ syndrome. |
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Key issues in future landfilling: • Sustainability: Each generation solves its own problems. This means that the landfill should be integrated into the surrounding environment within 30 - 50 years: Final storage quality: Thereafter, no material or energy in-put required to control emissions to the environment. • Final storage quality can only be reached by accepting some leaching from the waste: The waste holds excessive salts that can be removed only by leaching. |
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The strategy towards a sustainable landfill plays on several keys: • Siting in a robust environment. • Emission control measures by active technologies as leachate collection systems and gas extraction system. • Emission control measures by passive technologies as naturally attenuating barriers (bottom barriers, top covers) and hydrological controls (surface run-off, enhanced evapotranspiration, etc.). • Engineered landfill operation. • Pretreatment of waste to be landfilled. • Consistent acceptance criteria for waste to be landfilled. |