Geotechnical hazards associated with closed municipal solid waste landfill sites

As pressure for new infrastructure and development grows, it is inevitable that building projects will encounter some of the c20,000 closed former solid waste landfills in the UK, many of which will have accepted municipal solid wastes (MSW). Construction on or across these sites brings a special set of geohazards associated with the potential for large and difficult to predict settlements, gas (and odour) release or generation, contaminated leachate and the breach of containment systems and other environmental controls. The presentation will discuss these issues with reference to recent research into understanding and predicting settlements in municipal solid waste landfills; assessing the total, current and residual gas potential of biodegradable wastes; the role of the hydraulic regime in the flushing of contaminants from the waste and the quality of leachate; and the need or otherwise for the long term integrity of engineered barriers and controls.