Exposed Geomembranes as a Sustainable Practice for Landfill Design and Operation

Exposed geomembranes provide a tool for the more sustainable operation of solid waste landfills. Common sustainable landfill practices involve the purposeful treatment of the landfilled solid waste to stabilize the disposed materials more rapidly. Exposed geomembranes have been successfully employed to control liquid balance issues associated with wet landfills. They can be used to greatly enhance gas collection efficiency, including periods earlier in the operation life of a landfill, and to overcome many of the challenges of collecting gas from wet landfills. Employing an exposed geomembranes as a protection emissions control feature instead of a traditional landfill cover system offers the operator the opportunity to more efficiently utilize disposal capacity and implement landfill reclamation. These benefits result in an overall reduction of the net carbon footprint for a landfill site. Regulatory, engineering, and operational challenges remain to fully implement this approach, but the benefits suggested offer sufficient justification to continue to explore the role exposed geomembranes play with respect to sustainable landfill practices.