Evaluating Landfill Types: Merits, Demerits, and Efficiency Indexing

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of different landfill types, including sanitary landfills, bioreactor landfills, and various capping methods such as clay capping and phytocapping. It evaluates the merits and demerits of each type, focusing on their environmental impact and efficiency. The report also discusses landfill indexing, a system used to rank landfills based on their environmental degradation values, with sanitary landfills and phytocapping receiving higher efficiency ratings. The study concludes that while landfills play a crucial role in waste management, continuous assessment and research are essential for identifying the most efficient and cost-effective methods, emphasizing the importance of appropriate capping techniques for optimal performance. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments.

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Landfills
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Landfills are a modern form of garbage management. It is engineered to allow the dumping of
the garbage in special protective cells either on the land surface or inside excavations made.
Landfills play a major role in garbage management despite the fact that modern economy
encourages reuse, recycling, and valorization of wastes, (Stamps et al, 2016. Pp. 534). Waste in
the landfills leads to the generation of landfill gases and leachate. When these products are
exposed to animal life, it becomes hazardous and ultimately will affect the environmental quality
we live in. this paper will focus on the different types of landfills, their demerits, and merits as
well as their indexing in deciding the most efficient one.
Types of landfills
Sanitary landfill
Sanitary landfill keeps the garbage in it dry using a base cover and linear. The design of this
landfill prevents water from infiltrating into it which could lead to degradation of the waste,
(Qasim, 2017). The leachate from the wastes collects at the bottom of the design and it is safely
disposed of in a safer mode.
Benefits
Sanitary landfills reduce the odor that is as a result of the rot from the wastes. It also helps in the
prevention of wildfires. It leads in the eradication of breeding ground for rodents and insects.
Sanitary fills are cheap and simple to establish since it does not require garbage separation.
Demerits

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It requires frequent and close attention since it can deteriorate to a normal dump site. It also
requires a large chunk of land for establishment; this will be difficult for some city to get the
land.
Bioreactor landfills
These type of landfill can be classified into three sub-categories; hybrid, aerobic and anaerobic.
Anaerobic landfill, degradation of the waste matter is done using the anaerobic microorganisms
which do not utilize oxygen for respiratory purposes, (Townsend, 2018). The anaerobes convert
the organic wastes to organic acids and finally to methane and carbon IV oxide. Aerobic fills
make use of microorganisms that utilize oxygen for respiration to turn the organic matter to
carbon IV oxide. Hybrid fills utilize the two microorganisms. Bioreactor landfills are
increasingly becoming common as an alternative to the ancient landfilling plans.
Benefits of bioreactor landfill
It is flexible for future expansion as estimates can be made based on the forecast on future waste
production.
Demerits
Traffic from the excavators can lead to noise pollution, air pollution, and visual intrusion. Use of
heavy machinery causes traffic in the area hence delaying normal traffic.
Landfill capping

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Landfill capping refers to the technology that is used as a barrier between the contaminants and
the ground surface. This helps in reducing the exposure the hazardous content may have on
human life and the general environment. Therefore, it helps in mitigating the risks that would
have been faced, (Sarah et al., 2017). A good landfill capping must be able to prevent water from
getting into contact with the contaminated wastes. This will highly reduce the leaching of
substances that will lead to the contamination of underground water bodies.
The modern technology has come to replace ancient landfill practices. In the US for example,
landfills were just holes that were dug and waste is stashed into it. In other countries, people
filled garbage into rusty drums and they bury them, (Hauser, 2016). The drums rust completely
after some time leaving the contaminated garbage to leach to the ground and into the water
surfaces.
Landfill caps perform differently. This is dependent on the location of the landfill and the
function the cap is intended to perform. Most of the landfill caps have the following limitations;
Caps do not reduce the volume of the garbage in the landfill and the toxic that is in it. However,
it is important to note that capping of the landfills helps in the mitigation of the risks.
Limited lifespan of the caps, Most of the caps used in landfills have a lifespan ranging between
50 years to 100 years. In regions where natural calamities are prone, the capping should be
designed appropriately to absorb the pressure that will be as a result of the same
Land use should not be allowed to comprise the effectiveness of the landfill capping. Institutions
need to be set to safeguard the integrity of the landfills.

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Clay capping
Clay capping is useful in landfills as they help in isolating of polluting matter in the garbage
from leaching to the ground or come into contact with the general environment. This minimizes
the toxic of the environment from the harmful matter, (Beck-Broichsitter et al., 2018. Pp. 356). It
possesses advantages over other capping methods. The following are some of the merits of clay
capping;
Benefits
1. It is easy to set up and the materials are readily available
2. When setting uprightly, it is not easy to get destroyed
Demerits
1. When installed in dry areas, clay capping can dry reducing the protective layer.
2. When clay capping is used in areas that receive a lot of rainfall, moisture can go through
it leading to the leaching of leachates into the ground and consequently contaminating
underground water sources.
3. It is expensive to set up and maintain. Despite the fact that clay capping has been in use
for quite some time now, it is 10% more expensive to construct it as compared to other
capping methods like evapotranspiration.
4. When exposed to various environmental conditions, its effectiveness can deteriorate over
time.
5. Not appropriate for medium and small landfill projects

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6. Requires long term monitoring of nearly 30 years which turns out to be an expensive
course
Phytocapping
It is made up of two prominent components; trees, which are the rain interceptors and bio-
pumps, and the land that is the store, (Khapre et al., 2017. Pp. 7). These two components reduce
the possibility of water becoming wastes. In countries like the US, phytocapping uses grass in
place of trees and in any case trees are used, they use populus sp and Salix.
Benefits
Reduce the amount of water that becomes waste. Low cost of establishment as compared to clay
capping. Solutions obtained from phytocapping are more accurate as compared to other methods
of capping.
Demerits
Yearly water balance will affect the performance of the system as the estimations are made using
the daily water balance. It is less effective as compared to a well-equipped and maintained clay
capping.
Landfill indexing
Landfills are indexed given the values attached to them regarding environmental degradation.
The system used in calculating the figures were designed by Battelle Columbus University. It
takes into consideration different variables in determining the efficiencies if different landfills.

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One of the approaches used is asking the expert to rank various fills and in the end, weighted
averages are calculated given the figures posted, (Zaman, and Lehmann, 2013. Pp. 129).
According to experts view, sanitary landfills are the most efficient. Generally, it has an indexed
percentage of 68. Bioreactors are slightly lower lying on a percentile bracket of 50. Capping also
undergoes the same procedure of indexing. Although the use of phytocapping is not wised as
compared to clay capping, it received a high index rate of 70%. Clay capping is the most
common and widely used. The demerits associated with it are numerous. It received an approval
index of 48%.
Landfills have significantly helped in waste management in the world. There are continuous
assessment and research on obtaining the most efficient landfill. From the present models
available and are in use in different parts of the world, the sanitary landfill is the most efficient
and cost-effective in the establishment. The landfills only become efficient with the appropriate
capping done in it. Clay capping and phytocapping are some of the capping available. Most
organizations have opted in using phytocapping based on its effectiveness, accuracy, and
simplicity in setting up.

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References
Beck-Broichsitter, S., Gerke, H. and Horn, R., 2018. Suitability of Boulder Marl and Marsh Clay
as Sealing Substrates for Landfill Capping Systems—A Practical Comparison. Geosciences,
8(10), p.356.
Hauser, V.L., 2016. Evapotranspiration covers for landfills and waste sites. CRC Press.
Khapre, A., Kumar, S. and Rajasekaran, C., 2017. Phytocapping: an alternate cover option for
municipal solid waste landfills. Environmental technology, pp.1-8.
Qasim, S.R., 2017. Sanitary landfill leachate: generation, control, and treatment. Routledge.
Sarah, F., Ciska, C., Jan, G.M. and Leon, P.M., 2017. Peat capping: natural capping of wet
landfills by peat formation. Ecological engineering.
Stamps, B.W., Lyles, C.N., Suflita, J.M., Masoner, J.R., Cozzarelli, I.M., Kolpin, D.W. and
Stevenson, B.S., 2016. Municipal solid waste landfills harbor distinct microbiomes. Frontiers in
microbiology, 7, p.534.
Townsend, T.G., 2018. Landfill bioreactor design & operation. Routledge.
Zaman, A.U. and Lehmann, S., 2013. The zero waste index: a performance measurement tool for
waste management systems in a ‘zero waste city’. Journal of Cleaner Production, 50, pp.123-
132.