SPECIAL REPORT: Closing Landfills
No Longer An Open-And-Shut Case: Landfill Closures Grow In Scope

ISSUE: Volume 13, Number 10 October 2003

ABSTRACT:

It’s said that the two happiest days in a boat owner’s life are the day he buys the boat, and the day he sells it. The same may or may not hold true for landfill owners, but the day a landfill accepts its last load of waste is by no means the end of that landfill’s story. A combination of factors that have fallen into place over the last decade has meant that landfill closure is now almost as important a consideration for owners and operators as the landfill’s operation itself.

Start with Subtitle D. The EPA’s landmark landfill law mandated specific landfill caps—which meant no more locking the gate and forgetting about the old town dump—and post-closure monitoring for 30 years, which takes substantial financial resources that can be offset by certain post-closure uses. The combination of improved capping techniques and dwindling public space means that many governments are looking to their landfills as greenspaces. And the ever-difficult job of selling a landfill proposal to a dubious public can be eased somewhat if the developer incorporates a golf course, ski slope, light-use development, or recreational space into the future plans for the landfill site.

SECTIONS:

-Camp, Dresser & McKee
-SCS Engineers
-Ecolotree
-ESI Inc.
-EnCap
-Further Capping Options
-More information: For Further Reading

DATA:

-Table: Decline in the Number of Landfills in the US by Year (1993-2003)

-Solid Waste Price Index: October 2003

TO ORDER:

• Please call (952) 831-2473 or fax your request to (952) 831-6550 or email: research@wasteinfo.com.