Control Techniques for Gas Emissions from Hazardous Waste Landfills

While land disposal of hazardous wastes is being used widely as a practical and economically attractive disposal method, significant damage to the economy, environment, and public health have resulted from inadequate land disposal procedures. The air pollution aspects related to hazardous waste landfills are discussed. Topics addressed include landfill gas generation, problem identification, and control techniques. Three basic ways to control toxic gaseous emissions from landfills are to prevent gas generation, to pretreat the waste or install a gas collection and control system, and to add more cover materials to existing landfills. (5 diagrams, 6 references)