Innovative Practices to Maximize Resource Recovery and Minimize Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Landfill Waste Cells: Historical and Recent Developments

Over the last few decades, landfill design and operational practices have evolved. Current landfill waste cells include innovative features that eliminate most of the negative environmental impacts associated with waste disposal on land. This review focuses on some of the historical and recent advances in waste cell design and operational practices that minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with landfills that accept biodegradable organic waste and maximize energy and resource recovery from waste cells. Here, we emphasize innovative practices such as the operation of a waste cell as a landfill bioreactor with leachate recirculation to maximize landfill gas production and increase the rate of waste stabilization, controlling GHG emissions during filling of the waste cell, and mining of waste cells to recover recyclables and reuse waste residue for energy recovery and other beneficial uses.