17 - Waste landfill reclamation

Abstract

For over twodecades, modern landfill reclamation processes have been gaining much attention in developed and developing countries. In the United States, each person generates on average, about four to seven pounds of trash per day and it is estimated that the United States produces 7.6billion tons of industrial waste every year. Recycling is the best possible method of disposing the waste; however, it is not used most of the time. The most commonplace that trash is disposed of is in a landfill. Moreover, most of the population in the world has been disposing their waste in the landfill for more than 100years. Landfill disposal is a good option for discarding waste but when this trash inside a landfill decomposes, it produces poisonous gas such as methane and carbon dioxide (all greenhouse gasses), which contribute to global warming and climate change. Additionally, the landfill degrades the soil quality that also causes negative vegetation and wildlife changes. To reduce the impact of waste disposal in landfills on the environment and human beings, landfill reclamation is a good practice. However, the primary objective of reclaiming a landfill is land value to the owner or indeed to society to make them suitable for more intensive use. Landfill reclamation maximizes the space by removing materials that can be used again, a type of post-disposal recycling. This chapter describes the key elements of the landfill reclamation process, reclamation initiatives over time and its benefits and drawbacks, and some of the technical challenges and the engineering solutions in this process.