The effect of municipal solid waste pretreatment on landfill behavior: a literature review

Landfilling is one of the most widely used municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal methods worldwide. It is the necessary part of an integrated solid waste system, since all waste treatment processes have residues that cannot be further reused or recovered and are eventually landfilled. Thermal, mechanical and biological pretreatment techniques are used, often in combination, prior to landfilling. The primary aim is the recovery of certain components and energy production. However, pretreatment techniques can also be used with the ultimate objective of controlling landfill behavior, that is the biological and physicochemical processes that take place within a landfill. Two ways a landfill can be managed in the future are: a final storage quality depository, in which environmental emissions are kept to a minimum; or a controlled bioreactor, in which enhanced methane production rates and methane utilization are the goals. Thermal, mechanical and biological pretreatment methods can be combined to achieve either of the above goals. Both financial and environmental issues have to be considered when determining the ways landfills will be managed in the future, as part of an optimized integrated waste management system.