Alternative construction materials in waste containment applications

Over the past few years, there has been a challenge presented by the combined forces of industry, the economy, increased regulatory requirements, and the public`s heightened sensitivity to recycling and effective management of solid waste to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Therefore, individuals have begun thinking about landfill construction in new ways and taking a second and third look at ways to reduce construction costs while maintaining system performance and regulatory compliance. As a result of this examination, EMCON (Mahwah, NJ) has begun to identify components of the waste stream that can be redirected into a beneficial use as construction materials. Use of non-traditional materials for landfill construction, such as broken glass, tires, ash, or sludge, has the potential for significant savings, and subsequent benefit of converting potentially unusable waste materials into a useful part of a landfill containment system.