Designs and Operations of Sanitary Landfills

One of the most effective way of dumping pollution is sanitary landfill. In this method a hole is dug in the land in which waste is dumped in layers form and is compacted to make it solid. The safe dumping of waste is made possible by number of designs including bottom liner, cells, storm water drainage, methane collection system, leachate collection system, groundwater monitoring system, cover etc. For meeting the specific requirement standards a number of operations are performed in sanitary landfills. These operations includes limited to a smaller area, covering with soil layers, compacted to reduce the volume.

Sanitary Landfills:

Sanitary landfills is one of the most effective ways of dumping the wastes without pollution in modern countries. It is basically a pit or hole having a safe bottom in which the wastes is dumped in the form of layers and it is further compressed in order to make it solid. In this way the waste is not directly in contact of surface runoff, rain or ground water. The key purpose of landfills is to make sure that the waste is safe by managing safe decomposition. The process of decomposition is fastened by the layers of soils and garbage. The decomposition of waste causes the production of methane gases which is used for electricity production instead of its release into the air.

Sanitary landfill design:

The main purpose of sanitary landfill is to help in the safe waste disposal for the protection of environment and public health. The design of sanitary landfill should be in such a way to protect land, soil, air and water. The basic purpose of sample design of sanitary landfill is the maximum disposal of waste within the given resources. It is a science that is evolving continuously with time. The different kinds of sanitary landfill design are as below:

Bottom Liner:

In this type of sanitary landfill, the under-ground natural resources and water is prevented to come in contact with the buried waste with the help of bottom liner. The bottom liner is made up of high density polyethylene having long durability and is puncture resistant along with clay soil.

Storm water drainage:

This design is made in order to prevent and gather water run off during floods, storms or rain. It may also contain open channels. It is used to collect the run offs from buildings and highways. This practice is more common in urban or thickly populated areas.

Cover:

In this design cover is required to be place around such kind of waste which is placed in cell. This cover may daily cover or the cover of compacted soil having the thickness of 6 inches. Some commonly used cover are spray-on cover material, cover of tarpaulin material. These kind of covers are applied and removed on daily basis.

Cells:

Cells are defined as a particular area designed for the waste disposal in landfills. The length of cells is variable ranging from few acres to several hundred acres that depends on the amount of waste. The larger cells are further divided into smaller cells which are daily workface. Daily workface is the place where waste is dumped regularly and before adding another layer, it is covered with soil or layer of clay.

Ground water monitoring Stations:

In order to access and examine the underground water present in the around the land fill for leachate contamination various stations are formed. It has basically two parts. Up-gradient well that is setup to check the quality of water before moving to disposed zone. Down-gradient well is setup to check the quality of water after its passing to disposal area. This is done to assure that groundwater has not been affected by wastes disposal.

Conclusion:

It is basically a pit or hole having a safe bottom in which the wastes is dumped in the form of layers and it is further compressed in order to make it solid. A number of sanitary landfill design are available including leachate collection system, bottom liner, cells, storm water drainage, methane collection system, groundwater monitoring system, cover etc. For meeting the specific requirement standards a number of operations are performed in sanitary landfills. These operations includes limited to a smaller area, covering with soil layers, compacted to reduce the volume.