Environmental Impacts of Landfill Bioreactorcells in Comparison to Former Landfill Techniques

Former and present landfill techniques at the Filbornaplant in Helsingborg, South Sweden are compared withrespect to impacts on the environment. This includes thepotential for nutrient recovery and heavy metalimmobilisation in the waste residue. The results showthat optimised landfill bioreactor-cells have a higherturn-over rate for organic matter compared to the formerlandfills, whereas the retention capacity for heavymetals in both systems was surprisingly high. Full scaleleachate data, as well as a laboratory leachingexperiments confirmed the role of bioreactor cells asanaerobic filters enabling a separation of nutrients froma mixed waste, while the toxic metals are retained. Theconclusion of this article is that by simple measures, thebiological processes can be optimised, resulting inhigher turn-over rates for organic matter and thusaccelerated waste stabilisation.