Sustainable Landfills in Accordance with the

EU Landfill Directive
Derek Greedy, International Solid Waste Association, UK

CONTACT

Name: Derek Greedy

E-mail: derekgreedy@hotmail.co.uk

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Sustainable development is defined by Bruntland as development that meets the needs of the pre-
sent without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs. However sus-
tainability and landfill are terms that are rarely recognised as being mutually compatible. The
Landfill Directive has sustainability at its core and attempts to overcome this perceived obstacle.
The expectation is that this is to be delivered by reducing the biodegradable composition of munici-
pal waste being deposited into landfill over a number of years. It goes further by categorising the
types of landfill and engineering detail to manage and protect the environment from landfill emis-
sions. However does it go far enough as the landfilling of biodegradable municipal waste no matter
how low the concentration will have long term monitoring and aftercare requirements all be it that
the level, intensity and financial burden will be greatly reduced. The one area where the Landfill
Directive potentially falls foul in its entirety of the principles of sustainability is in the case of haz-
ardous waste landfills. Here the landfilled hazardous waste will always pose a potential threat to
the environment as its hazardous waste characteristics will not change over time. This will without
doubt result in a long term burden for future generations which is just what sustainable development
is seeking to avoid.

Keywords: sustainability; Landfill Directive; biodegradable municipal waste; hazardous waste;

aftercare; monitoring.

INTRODUCTION

Before attempting to define what is considered to be sustainable landfill it is necessary to under-

stand what is meant by sustainable development. Perhaps the place to start is the definition pro-
duced by Brundtland in 1987 which says that “sustainable development is development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own
needs”. This definition has then be used as the starting point to define sustainable landfill for which
there are many views on what this definition might be.

Having looked at these many definitions, all of which relate closely to the Brundtland definition,
perhaps the best is the one developed by the International Waste Working Group’s Sustainable
Landfill task force. It states that a “sustainable Landfill” as one that has been designed, constructed,
operated and closed in such a way that its environmental impacts are limited or minimized within
the lifespan of the main equipment and construction components.
In practical terms it is suggested that a sustainable landfill:

 Reaches functional stability (based on site-specific physical, chemical, and biological char-
acteristics of the waste mass, leachate, or landfill gas) such that the undisturbed contents do
not pose a threat to human health and the environment;
 During the process towards functional stability no unacceptable emissions should occur;
 The stable situation should be reached in approximately one generation (30-50 years); and
 The funding for completion of aftercare and minimal (custodial) care beyond completion has
been secured and allows for responsible and beneficial end use of the site.

To order to achieve these goals new concepts and techniques have been, and continue to be, devel-
oped. These include aerobic landfills, mechanical biological treatment prior to landfilling, bioreac-
tor landfills and active rehabilitation techniques.

EU DIRECTIVE ON THE LANDFILL OF WASTE

The overall objective Article 1) of EU Directive on the Landfill of Waste (Landfill Directive) is that
member states develop procedures and guidance to prevent or reduce as far as possible negative
effects on the environment, in particular the pollution of surface water, groundwater, soil and air,
and on the global environment, including the greenhouse effect.

To achieve these objectives the Landfill Directive requires:

 Technical standards to protect, preserve and improve the quality of the environment in the
community;
 Reduce the production of methane gas in order to reduce global warming;
 Introduce a uniform waste acceptance procedure to reflect the classification of landfills; and
 Define the obligations on the operator during the after-care period.

These are objectives are to be delivered through Article 4 (Classes of landfill), Article 5 (Waste and
treatment not acceptable in landfills), Article 6 (Waste to be accepted in the different classes of
landfill), Article 7 (Application for a permit) and Article 8 (Conditions of a permit).

There are 3 classes of landfill defined in the landfill Directive which allow for the landfill of haz-
ardous waste, non-hazardous waste and inert waste. Acceptance criteria have been developed for
hazardous and inert wastes and therefore, by default, if the waste falls outside of these criteria then
it is considered to be non-hazardous.

The reduction of the production of methane is to be achieved through the reduction of municipal
biodegradable waste disposed of at landfills. However the Landfill Directive is silent on how it is
proposed to manage the biodegradable composition of commercial and industrial wastes that is to
be landfilled. Despite this the UK government has applied landfill tax as a fiscal measure in an at-
tempt to reduce such wastes going to landfill. Unfortunately this did not have the desired affect in
these early days but now that the level of tax has reached £64/tonne and is on an escalator of
£8/tonne in future years this measure is now beginning to take effect.

Article 5 of the Landfill Directive has defined the percentages of municipal biodegradable waste
based on the 1995 Eurostat data that can be disposed of to landfill up to 2016. These levels will be
reached progressively in 3 tranches by the year 2016. However where countries were landfilling
more than 80% of its municipal waste in 1995 they were given a 4 year derogation on the target
years. However there is provision in the Landfill Directive for the Council to review the final target
2 years (2014) in advance of the final target year. The targets are that:
  By 2006 (2010) BMW reduced to 75% of 1995 levels;
 By 2009 (2013) BMW reduced to 50% of 1995 levels; and
 By 2016 (2020) BMW reduced to 35% of 1995 levels.

Discussions are already taking place within the European Commission whereby in the final target
value will be zero biodegradable municipal waste to landfill. However the target year for that is
still very much open to debate.

EMISSIONS MANAGEMENT

For landfills to be managed sustainably it will be necessary to control emissions and to provide the
infrastructure that is necessary to manage the sustainable landfill in the future such that it does not
remain a burden for further generations. To manage the emissions such that the possible negative
effects on the environment are prevented or reduced as far as is possible will require robust engi-
neering measures. This engineering will provide for a geological barrier, surface sealing, infrastruc-
ture for the control and management of leachate and for the control and management of landfill gas.

Annex I of the Landfill directive gives clear guidance for water (leachate) control, the protection of
soil and water and gas control.

Engineering
Site engineering will provide for the protection of soil, groundwater and surface water through the
combination of a geological barrier and bottom liner during the operational phase. The protection
required during the post closure phase will be provided through a combination of a geological barri-
er and top liner.

The geological barriers for the respective classes of landfill are:

 Inert landfill: K = or < 1 x 10-7 m/s, thickness = or > 1m

 *Non-hazardous: K = or < 1 x 10-9 m/s, thickness = or > 1m
 *Hazardous: K = or < 1 x 10-9 m/s, thickness = or > 5m

*requires in addition to the geological barrier an artificial sealing liner and a drainage layer = or >
0.5m thickness.

Water Control and Leachate Management

Again the Landfill Directive requires appropriate measures to be taken for water control and leach-
ate management whilst taking into account the characteristics of the landfill and the meteorological
conditions. The measures required are to:

 Prevent precipitation entering the landfill body;

 Prevent surface and groundwater entering the landfilled waste;
 Collect contaminated water and leachate; and
 Treat contaminated water and leachate.
Landfill Gas Control
Annex I of the Landfill Directive is very prescriptive in how it requires landfilled gas to be con-
trolled and managed. It requires operators to:

 Control the accumulation and migration of landfill gas;

 Collect landfill gas from all landfills receiving biodegradable municipal waste;
 Treat and use; and
 Collection and treatment must minimise the risk to human health and the deterioration or
damage of the environment.

DISCUSSION

Although the Landfill Directive has an underlying focus on sustainable development this must be
questionable. Clearly inert waste only to inert landfill is something that can be managed and will
meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their
own needs. However this cannot be said for non-hazardous and hazardous landfills.

Although non-hazardous landfill does seek a reduction in the quantity of biodegradable waste to be
landfilled it does not eliminate it entirely. Therefore landfill gas will continue to be produced over a
considerable time period. Additionally as the ingress of moisture is restricted this will result in the
waste body remaining dry which in itself will reduce the degradation rate of the biodegradable ma-
terial which is likely to effect extend the timescale for active management. Furthermore as the bio-
degradable municipal waste is likely to be distributed wider within the waste mass in the landfill it
is likely to become increasingly more difficult to extract and manage.

Similarly hazardous waste landfills are unlikely ever to be in harmony with the environment as the
waste will remain as deposited and will not undergo any further stabilisation. Thus it will always
pose a threat to the environment and will require long-term active management which will continue
to be a burden to future generations.

Although the statements above does paint a gloomy picture it can be said that the Landfill Directive
requirements have made landfill more sustainable than it has been in the past but is not the complete
answer. The only sure way to make the non-hazardous waste landfill sustainable would be to elim-
inate all biodegradable waste. That is biodegradable waste from municipal and commercial and
industrial sources. Unfortunately as the Landfill Directive is currently worded it does not set diver-
sion targets for biodegradable commercial and industrial wastes which for many economies ac-
counts for by far the greatest proportion of biodegradable waste currently being landfilled. This has
been recognised by a number of the European Member States who have introduced fiscal measures
such as landfill tax to encourage diversion. Other Member States have gone far beyond the re-
quirements of the landfill Directive by either banning entirely biodegradable waste to landfill or at
reduced levels whereby it is expected that long-term active management will not be required.

It is unlikely that the possible solutions that can be applied to non-hazardous landfills can be repli-
cated for hazardous waste landfills. Therefore, even if the Landfill Directive targets are revisited in
2014 such that biodegradable municipal waste is eliminated or reduce to very low levels, the long-
term threat from hazardous waste landfills will always remain so the Landfill Directive as currently
written is unlikely ever to lead to the landfill of waste being a truly sustainable development.
CONCLUSIONS

To conclude the Landfill Directed as currently written does not deliver truly sustainable develop-
ment. However it does go some way in reducing the long-term impacts by:

 Reducing the negative effects of landfilling

 Prescribing engineering criteria to contain emissions
 Prescribing engineering requirements to prevent ingress of ground and surface waters
 Requiring the treatment and utilisation of landfill (biogas) gas

REFERENCES

Brundtland G H United nations Report of the World Commission on Environment and Develop-
ment: Our Common Future, 20 March 1987 Oslo, Norway

Council Directive 1999/31/EC 26 April 1999 on the Landfill of waste

Greedy D et al Sustainable Landfills Master Class ISWA/APESB Annual Congress 2009 Lisbon,
Portugal