Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Uncontrol Dumping Waste PDF
Uncontrol Dumping Waste PDF
September 2007
Chapter 1.3 Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Page
1 Introduction 1
10 Bibliography 13
Chapter 1.3 1
1 Introduction
The objective of this chapter is to describe the most important health and environ-
mental risks which might be caused by disposal sites in order to illustrate the
necessity of adequate design, construction and operation of landfills. In each of the
following sections particular problems for human health and the different
environmental media, their causes, and mitigation measures are briefly explained.
Figure 1.1 shows the polluting emissions and other negative effects which must be
expected at uncontrolled dumps and poorly designed and/or operated landfills:
- leachate
- landfill gas
- surface runoff
- noise
- bad odour and smoke
- wind-blown litter and dust
- birds, vermin and insects.
Many negative effects such as noise, odour and smoke, wind-blown litter and dust or
accumulations of birds, vermin and insects can be minimised by appropriate landfill
operation, especially the runoff of contaminated surface water can be prevented
totally.
The most important emissions of dumps and landfills are leachate and landfill gas,
and even a closed (and restored) landfill will cause leachate and landfill gas for a
period of time.
Figure 1.1:
Schematic diagram
of emissions of
dumps and landfills
2 Environmental Risks
Many people living on or near dumps died during last years because of landslides of
waste bodies. These slides can destroy settlements some hundred metres
downwards the dumpsite.
Photo 3.1:
Waste pickers on a landfill in
Latin America
The health hazards for waste pickers and their families are obvious:
Every local situation requires specific solutions and demands a close co-operation of
all the stakeholders in waste management.
The opening of a new landfill is a good opportunity to establish new rules and to offer
better working conditions for the waste pickers.
4 Environmental Risks
- noise
- bad odour and smoke
- wind-blown litter and dust.
All of these emissions can be minimised by suitable landfill operation, while non-
organised dumping creates and increases the problems.
Noise is generated by the haulage trucks and the mobile equipment of the landfill like
compactors and bulldozers. The best measure to protect the neighbourhood against
noise is proper siting of a landfill. This includes access roads out of settlements as far
as possible. Further measures of noise protection or reduction are bordering dams
around the tipping area and encased engine compartments.
- no open dumping of sludges and other fast degradable wastes like wastes
from slaughter houses
- reduction of open tipping areas down to the necessary minimum space for
tipping and compaction
- collection and treatment of landfill gas parallel to the development of the
landfill body.
Further typical problems are fires – and the resulting smoke – on uncontrolled dumps
and sometimes on landfills (see Photo 4.1). Reasons for beginning of fires are
different:
Auto-ignition of waste and waste induced ignitions often cause “hidden” fires which
smoulder inside the waste body. Also burning waste heaps at the top or the edges of
a dumping area can turn into a smouldering fire inside the waste body.
Chapter 1.3 5
Photo 4.1:
Burning dump in the
Middle East
These fires are difficult to extinguish and often they gleam for many months. Under
unfavourable conditions a fire can get out of control and ignite the whole dumpsite.
Next to the uncontrolled release of toxic gases burning waste generates a lot of
smoke. Smoke of burning waste is sometimes a dominant factor of the atmospheric
load with particulate matters in cities of developing countries.
Wind-blown litter consists of paper and plastic sheets. These sheets can affect the
neighbourhood of a landfill in a range up to some hundred metres. The sheets are
blown both during unloading of haulage trucks and from the surface of the tipping
area. Dust becomes a problem when municipal waste contains a lot of ashes and if
waste is covered with soil which desiccates in dry periods.
The problem of wind-blown litter and dust during unloading can be reduced by
preparation of tipping areas sheltered from the wind (not at the top of the landfill,
construction of higher bordering dams). Compaction of waste significantly reduces
blowing of paper and plastic sheets, and in addition paper catching fences or
hedgerows are useful. Sprinkling of earth covers and sandy roads prevents dust
emissions.
6 Environmental Risks
Dumping of waste in the neighbourhood of surface waters like creeks, rivers, and
lakes without any protective measures must result in water pollution caused by
surface run-off from the dumping area. The type of pollution depends on the types of
waste disposed of. The contaminants can range from oil, toxic inorganic and organic
chemicals, and pathogenic germs to inorganic salts and organic constituents washed
out of the wastes disposed of. Toxic substances, salts and organic pollutants can
interfere with the aquatic fauna seriously and spoil the surface water for human
purposes.
- intensity of rainfalls
- geometry of the site
- properties of soils and wastes.
Surface run-off can become a problem especially in countries with very high annual
rainfalls or in arid countries with very intensive rainfalls in a few weeks of the year.
Protective measures against pollution by surface run-off from waste disposal areas
are simply to realise:
These measures represent good landfill practice and will reliably prevent pollution by
surface run-off.
Leachate is generated when precipitation seeps into a landfill body. The water
percolates the waste and solutes inorganic and organic waste compounds. Leachate
from landfills for municipal waste is often 10 – 100 times higher loaded with organic
compounds than municipal sewage. In addition to the organic constituents, which are
often easily degradable, leachate contains ammonia in high concentrations, which is
toxic for fishes. Furthermore many other contaminants are found in leachate from
dumpsites and landfills, due to the types of waste disposed of.
Photo 5.1 shows an unsealed leachate pond at the foot of a dumpsite in the Middle
East. The pond with a surface of some hectares does not disappear despite high
evaporation rates and the missing bottom liner. The neighbourhood suffers from the
bad odour emitted from this pond.
Chapter 1.3 7
Photo 5.1:
Uncontrolled leachate pond at
the foot of a dumpsite in the
Middle East
Photo 5.2:
Pollution of surface- and
groundwater by leachate from
an uncontrolled dump in
Latin America
Photo 5.2 demonstrates surface- and groundwater pollution directly at the foot of an
uncontrolled dump.
Landfill gas generation rates depend on the amount of waste disposed of, the content
of organics, and abiotic conditions like moisture and temperature. Approximately
200 l/kg municipal waste can be produced within a period of 20 years. Fresh waste
generates more landfill gas than older materials.
On site the main risk caused by landfill gas is the risk of explosions when landfill gas
and air are in an explosive mixture. Furthermore fires, especially at the outlet of drain
pipes or gas wells and at cracks in cover layers, can flare back into the waste and set
the landfill body into fire.
In the surrounding areas problems are caused by landfill gas, if the gas migrates in
soil layers of high conductivity or in trenches backfilled with coarse material. The
horizontal emission in the subsoil can accumulate landfill gas below neighboured
residential and commercial buildings, especially in cellars. When methane
concentration exceeds the lower explosion limit in those rooms one spark – e.g. by
switching on lights – will let the buildings explode.
Apart from damages from landfill gas the influence of methane on the greenhouse
effect should be considered. The effect of methane on the global warming is fifty
times higher than the effect of carbon dioxide.
After landfill restoration non-collected landfill gas migrates through the restoration
layer and displaces soil air. This damages the plants due to the missing oxygen in the
root zone.
Most of the effects described above can be coped by engineering methods like
installation of liners after closure of landfills, gas collection, and gas treatment as
early as possible after beginning waste dumping.
Chapter 1.3 9
Three examples shall demonstrate the effects on the fauna on the site.
Typical are colonies of one or two species, which dominate the landfill in huge and
dense flocks. The unloading haulage trucks are surrounded by excited birds, and the
whole surface of non compacted or non covered waste is overcast with them.
The high content of food waste attracted small mammals, especially rats, living in the
semi-desert. Optimal living conditions resulted in a rapid development of rats’
quantity, and landfill workers and waste pickers, living on the landfill, were affected by
these aggressive rodents.
This huge risk for health and life of the landfill workers and waste pickers living on the
site required urgent measures. A compactor was bought, and after compacting the
waste both the rat population and the snake population totally broke down.
10 Environmental Risks
Photo 7.1:
Flock of birds on a dump in
Latin America
The cockroaches were released from a wood processing factory, which delivered
weekly wood shavings to the municipal landfill. All of the deliveries of wood shavings
contained some cockroaches, which normally would not have created problems on a
normally operated landfill. The windrows on the other hand guaranteed all the abiotic
factors for a perfect environment for the cockroaches: shelters, warmth, good oxygen
supply, and a lot of organic food. The result was an extremely fast development of a
population of cockroaches with millions of specimens.
The population broke down – like the populations of rats and snakes in Jordan –
again after compacting the windrows. This special case shows, that rotting landfills
are easily to protect against vermin by compacting the windrows after an intensive
attack of insects. In addition the rotting technique was improved, and one of the
reasons for covering the rotting windrows with pre-treated material is the protection
against vermin (less food, worse living conditions).
These three examples demonstrate the necessity of good landfill operation to prevent
infestations with vermin and birds. Quickly covering of easily biodegradable wastes
like sludge and food waste, compaction of all wastes and small tipping areas will
reduce the problems.
Chapter 1.3 11
The effects on the flora are of less importance. At first damages of plants could be
caused by landfill gas, even in the surrounding of dump sites. Landfill gas collection
and liners can mitigate most of these damages.
Every disposal site – a dump as well as a landfill – has to be covered at least with an
earth layer to mitigate most of the direct problems caused by a heap of open waste:
The characteristics of the site, the properties of wastes disposed of, and the
sensitivity of the environment define the quality of the cover of the dumpsite:
Finally the dumpsite has to be registered to ensure the knowledge about its existence
for the future.
12 Environmental Risks
Most of the important direct impacts of dumpsites were mentioned in the previous
sections, and some mitigation measures were touched. In addition indirect impacts
like land use conflicts and visible degradation of the urban environment are to be
considered in an EIA.
The EIA has to cover the construction phase, the operation phase, and the post-
closure phase of a landfill. Main topics of an EIA are:
10 Bibliography
OELTZSCHNER, H.; MUTZ, D., 1996: Guidelines for an Appropriate Management of Sanitary
Landfill Sites
Division Water, Waste Management and Protection of Natural Resources
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn,
Germany