 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (June 2024) |
A landfill liner, or composite liner, is intended to be a low permeable barrier, which is laid down under engineered landfill sites. Until it deteriorates, the liner retards migration of leachate, and its toxic constituents, into underlying aquifers or nearby rivers from causing potentially irreversible contamination of the local waterway and its sediments.
Modern landfills generally require a layer of compacted clay with a minimum required thickness and a maximum allowable hydraulic conductivity, overlaid by a high-density polyethylene geomembrane.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has stated that the barriers "will ultimately fail," while sites remain threats for "thousands of years," suggesting that modern landfill designs delay but do not prevent ground and surface water pollution.[1]
Chipped or waste tires are used to support and insulate the liner.[2]
- ^ gfredlee.com - National Research Council of the National Academies (2007): Assessment of the Performance of Engineered Waste Containment Barriers. Committee to Assess the Performance of Engineered Barriers. Washington DC.
- ^ Benson, Craig H.; Olson, Michael A.; Bergstrom, Wayne R. (January 1996). "Temperatures of Insulated Landfill Liner". Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 1534 (1): 24–31. doi:10.1177/0361198196153400105. S2CID 220750886.