Environmental and socio-economic impacts of landfills

Abstract

A modern landfill is an engineered method for depositing waste in specially constructed and protected cells on the land surface or in excavations into the land surface. Despite the fact that an increasing amount of waste is reused, recycled or energetically valorized, landfills still play an important role in waste management strategies. The degradation of wastes in the landfill results in the production of leachate and gases. These emissions are potentials threats to human health and to the quality of the environment. Landfill gas consists mainly of methane and carbon dioxide, both important greenhouse gases. Landfill sites contribute 20% of the global anthropogenic methane emissions. Furthermore, it usually contains a large number of other gases at low concentrations, some of which are toxic. Leachate can migrate to groundwater or even to surface water through the flaws in the liners and this poses a serious problem as aquifers require extensive time for rehabilitation. Construction and management of landfills have ecological effects that may lead to landscape changes, loss of habitats and displacement of fauna. Socio-economic impacts of landfills include risks for public health derived from surfaceor groundwater contamination by leachate, the diffusion of litter into the wider environment and inadequate on-site recycling activities. Nuisances such as flies, odors, smoke and noise are frequently cited among the reasons why people do not want to reside close to landfills. Various researches conclude that landfills likely have an adverse negative impact upon housing values depending upon the actual distance from the landfill. The present paper reviews the environmental and socio-economic impacts related to landfills and presents existing modeling approaches to assess these impacts. Furthermore, this review is complemented with suggestions to minimize the environmental burden of landfills and to re-introduce the buried resources to the material cycle.