Landfill

The traditional approach to waste management in the UK offered containment and stabilization in ‘Sanitary Landfill’. As new arrangements evolve to Reuse, Recycling, and Recovery waste in line with the Waste Hierarchy, the need for Landfill has dropped and will continue to drop in developed countries – but ultimately there will always be a small element of waste that will need to be landfilled in a safe and secure way. In developing countries, with limited infrastructure, the delivery of Sanitary Landfill would represent a huge step forwards in protecting water resources and human health.

The Landfill Directive sets the types and standards required in the delivery of Landfill in the UK.

The Definition of 'Landfill' is found in Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfilling of waste as 'a waste disposal site for the deposit of waste onto or into land (i.e.underground) including:

• internal waste disposal sites (i.e. landfill where a producer of waste is carrying out its own waste disposal at a place of production), and
• a permanent site (i.e. more than one year) which is used for temporary storage of waste'.

The amount of Biodegradable Municipal Waste entering landfills within the UK and EU is restricted under the Landfill Directive and by 2020 only 35% of the 1995 baseline figure is permitted to landfill.

In June 2018 a revised target was published as part of the Circular Economy Package and transposed into European Directive 2018/850 amending Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste which requires that by 2035 the amount of municipal waste landfilled is 10% or less of the total amount of municipal waste generated (by weight).

Where the economic, environmental or health benefits are large enough, the process of Landfill Mining is being more commonly implemented at landfill sites.