Abstract
The USA, China and India are the top three producers of municipal solid waste. The composition of solid wastes varies with income: low-to-middle-income population generates mainly organic wastes, whereas high-income population produces more waste paper, metals and glasses. Management of municipal solid waste includes recycling, incineration, waste-to-energy conversion, composting or landfilling. Landfilling for solid waste disposal is preferred in many municipalities globally. Landfill sites act as ecological reactors where wastes undergo physical, chemical and biological transformations. Hence, critical factors for sustainable landfilling are landfill liners, the thickness of the soil cover, leachate collection, landfill gas recovery and flaring facilities. Here, we review the impact of landfill conditions such as construction, geometry, weather, temperature, moisture, pH, biodegradable matter and hydrogeological parameters on the generation of landfill gases and leachate. Bioreactor landfills appear as the next-generation sanitary landfills, because they augment solid waste stabilization in a time-efficient manner, as a result of controlled recirculation of leachate and gases. We discuss volume reduction, resource recovery, valorization of dumped wastes, environmental protection and site reclamation toward urban development. We present the classifications and engineered iterations of landfills, operations, mechanisms and mining.
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Abbreviations
- CO2 :
-
Carbon dioxide
- CO:
-
Carbon monoxide
- $/toe:
-
Dollars per tonne of oil equivalent
- $/ton:
-
Dollars per tonnes
- FAO:
-
Food and Agricultural Organization
- GJ:
-
Gigajoules
- HID Global:
-
Hughes identification devices
- H2 :
-
Hydrogen
- H2S:
-
Hydrogen sulfide
- kcal/kg:
-
Kilocalorie per kilogram
- kg/capita/day:
-
Kilogram per capita per day
- kg:
-
Kilogram
- km:
-
Kilometer
- kWh/m3 :
-
Kilowatt hour per cubic meter
- kWh:
-
Kilowatt hour
- MW:
-
Megawatt
- M:
-
Meter
- CH4 :
-
Methane
- mg/L:
-
Milligram per liter
- mV:
-
Millivolts
- MSW:
-
Municipal solid waste
- N2 :
-
Nitrogen
- OECD:
-
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- O2 :
-
Oxygen
- Pa:
-
Pascal
- PAYT:
-
Pay as you throw
- %:
-
Percentage
- pH:
-
Potential of hydrogen
- t.km:
-
Tonne-kilometer
- tonnes/day:
-
Tonnes per day
- USEPA:
-
United States Environmental Protection Agency
- vol.%:
-
Volume percent
- wt%:
-
Weight percent
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The authors would like to thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), MITACS and the City of London, Ontario, for funding this research.
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Nanda, S., Berruti, F. Municipal solid waste management and landfilling technologies: a review. Environ Chem Lett 19, 1433–1456 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01100-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01100-y