Beneficial Use Options for Closed MSW Landfills
Citation:
Winslow, K., A. Drysdale, J. Wally, P. Jain, B. Caniglia, T. Tolaymat, AND M. Krause. Beneficial Use Options for Closed MSW Landfills. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-22/122, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
Although this report does not provide a comprehensive list of every potential beneficial use possibility for a closed MSW landfill, the most common beneficial uses being implemented at the time of this report development are discussed. Additionally, certain potential beneficial use options were excluded from this report. For example, [CD1] landfill gas-to-energy production was excluded because of its potential to be implemented at active landfill sites and its widespread adoption among US landfills. There are many beneficial use strategies that may present themselves in the future as more research and technological advancements are made. However, this report aims to provide information on strategies already implemented on closed landfill sites.
Description:
The main objective of this study is to function as a reference source that landfill owners and other stakeholders can use to evaluate potential beneficial use applications that can be undertaken after a landfill has been closed. This report focuses solely on MSW landfills and does not consider other sites, such as brownfields, that may be presented with similar opportunities or challenges. In addition, this report provides a financial, construction, maintenance, and operational overview of the various beneficial use strategies identified, along with the number of sites that have implemented these strategies. The considerations outlined for each beneficial use application are intended to function as a screening tool that landfill owners can use to identify the best potential use of a closed site. Also, the list of sites compiled is not exhaustive, so some beneficial uses may have been implemented at more sites than were indicated in this report. The objective was to provide a list that stakeholders and interested parties could use to further explore the beneficial use options they are considering implementing at their site(s).