AVFALLSDEPONERING OCH HÅLLBAR UTVECKLING / Landfilling and sustainable development
Collection and treatment of the gas and leachate during the active period of a landfill is proposed in the EC landfill direcrives and in the proposal for new landfill directives in Sweden in order to reduce the risk for methane gas emissions and contamination of water resources. The directives propose an increased pretreatment of the waste that is landfilled in combination with a dry tomb landfill strategy. A dry tomb straregy may reduce the emissions in a short time scale but, in a long term perspecrive the technical barrier will inevitable break and the contaminants will be released. Ultimately, all landfills have to rely on passive environmental protection systems such as the retardarion effects in the underlying strata. In order to fulfill the basic requirements of sustainable development, the landfilled waste must be reduced to a final storage qualiiy through pretreatment or in-situ stabilization within a reasonable period of time (one generation) and before the technical barriers collapse