Sustainable Landfilling as Final Step of Municipal Waste Management System

This paper discusses the role of sustainable landfilling of municipal waste in the current systems of municipal waste management systems as the manner of final disposal of wastes. The actual data considering share of landfilling as final waste disposal in various countries all over the world allowed to asses importance of this method. Special attention was paid to sustainable landfilling in developing or undeveloped courtiers of low economic incomes. Then, the paradigm of sustainable landfilling was presented and the most effective methods of landfill isolation by liners were discussed. The compacted clay liners were presented as the gainful option for the developing countries. The main determinants of the compacted clay liners’ long-term liner sustainability were described as hydraulic conductivity, swell-shrinkage properties and, finally, ability of soil/substrate to sustain its hydraulic conductivity after cyclic drying and rewetting. Finally, possible application of low plasticity clays instead materials of high plasticity, prone to shrinking and swelling, to construction of sustainable compacted earthen liner was underlined.