Environmental impacts of disposal methods used for solid waste and its processing products

Abstract

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills and tailings storage facilities of mining enterprises often operate in similar hydrogeological conditions and have similar requirements for their design, operation, and closure. Therefore, the examination data set obtained for MSW landfills may also be used when assessing the environmental impact of waste disposal facilities in the mining industry. The body of data collected for such landfills contains certain information that is rarely studied for tailings storage facilities of mining and processing enterprises. These include the influence of hydrological conditions on the processes occurring within the landfill, regularities of sediment infiltration and leaching, the composition of the filtrate released, migration of pollutants outside the waste disposal facility, and formation and monitoring of gas emissions. Thermal recycling and composting were selected as the MSW handling technologies studies. The data on the joint disposal of MSW and related incineration ash, MSW-based compost and the municipal solid waste itself are presented. Studies on the consequences of joint waste disposal for the environmental impact of landfills are analyzed. The above analysis established that extraction of recyclable components from MSW for reuse or energy use would reduce the volume of MSW entering the disposal sites; biological or thermal treatment of MSW for the purpose of neutralization and volume reduction would reduce both the volume of MSW entering the disposal sites and the related biological hazard; and combined disposal of MSW with products of biological or thermal decontamination of MSW would lower the biological hazard of disposal. The study was carried out under the grant issued by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 19-79-10114).