UTILIZATION OF SECONDARY CON- STRUCTION MATERIALS IN A LANDFILL

Abstract

SUMMARY: Many landfills in Sweden as well as in Europe are subject to closure in the near future. Roughly 2,000 hectares of landfill area in Sweden have to be covered, equivalent to almost one hundred million tonnes of construction material. In addition to material costs in the order of tens of billions Euro, this also puts a strain on the environment through the exploitation of virgin materials. The deadline for this adoption to the EU Landfill directive is due in 2008 but it is already apparent that many landfills will not meet the deadline. Many landfill operators are considering alternative cover designs in order to reduce resource spending. However, there is a fair amount of uncertainty with regard to functional and environmental consequences of using alternative materials, both from the side of the companies and the authorities. It is necessary to characterise these materials in terms of chemical and physical properties. For example, the leaching of the materials is of great interest in order to estimate the requirements and design of future leachate treatment. 1