Environmental Challenges of Landfills and their Chemistry: Critical Analysis
Landfill, MSW (Municipal solid waste), aquifer contamination, Dioxins, Furans, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, methanogenesis, aerobic, anaerobic decomposition, fermentation leachates, trichloroethylene (TCE), Volatile fatty acids (VFA), carcinogenic, mutagenic, GHGs (Greenhouse gases), WTEs (Waste to recovery boilers), Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL), COD (Chemical oxygen demand) BOD (Biological oxygen demand)
Increasing population, urbanization and industrialization has increased the generation of waste manifold as also the need to dispose of this huge amount of waste. This has led to mushrooming of landfills which has now become a common landscape feature in many Indian cities Landfill is an engineered site where waste is dumped till it is completely biologically, chemically and physically degraded. Modern landfills also known as sanitary landfills are well designed and engineered to avail leachate collection and treatment system a methane recovery system along with the baseliner to prevent the leakages of leachate into the underground aquifers. As per World Bank report in 2016 the world produced 2.01 billion tons of waste which is estimated to increase upto 3.4 billion tons by 2050 an increase of almost 70% over a 30 year period. Another World Bank report in 2018 pegs India's per capita waste generation is 0.5 kg/day as compared to 0.7 kg/day at the global level; the bank also underlines the connection between economic development and waste generation indicating that the fast growth in Indian economy shall further increase the generation of waste at a faster rate. Landfills especially open ones without a proper base liner where soil below is in direct contact with garbage mound above produce toxic leachates due to various chemical reactions described here and carry heavy metals along with them percolating and contaminating underground aquifers and connected water bodies and rivers , these carcinogenic and mutagenic contaminants thus enter our food cycle, besides causing soil and water contamination , landfills also release toxic gases in air like dioxins and furans along with GHG gases like 〖CH〗_4, 〖CO〗_2 besides others like,〖 H〗_2S. Efficient landfill management and leachate collection and its safe disposal are key to achieving Swachh Bharat mission aiming to keep our cities clean and free from soil , water and air pollution for a better and healthy life.
"Environmental Challenges of Landfills and their Chemistry: Critical Analysis", IJSDR - International Journal of Scientific Development and Research (www.IJSDR.org), ISSN:2455-2631, Vol.4, Issue 12, page no.257 - 261, December-2019, Available :https://ijsdr.org/papers/IJSDR1912049.pdf
Volume 4
Issue 12,
December-2019
Pages : 257 - 261
Paper Reg. ID: IJSDR_202935
Published Paper Id: IJSDR1912049
Downloads: 000347554
Research Area: Engineering
Country: -, -, -
ISSN: 2455-2631 | IMPACT FACTOR: 9.15 Calculated By Google Scholar | ESTD YEAR: 2016
An International Scholarly Open Access Journal, Peer-Reviewed, Refereed Journal Impact Factor 9.15 Calculate by Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar | AI-Powered Research Tool, Multidisciplinary, Monthly, Multilanguage Journal Indexing in All Major Database & Metadata, Citation Generator
Publisher: IJSDR(IJ Publication) Janvi Wave
