Chapter 5
Municipal Solid Waste: Characterization and Engineering Properties
Publication: Geoenvironmental Engineering: Site and Contaminant Characterization, Containment Facilities, Solid Waste Materials, and Contaminated Ground Interventions
Abstract
Municipal solid waste (MSW) consists of discarded everyday items from residential and commercial, as well as institutional settings such as government, education, and medical facilities. MSW includes materials such as product packaging, yard trimmings, furniture, clothing, bottles and cans, food, paper, appliances, electronics, and batteries. Design of MSW landfills requires an understanding of the engineering properties of MSW. The chapter presents an overview of the current understanding of MSW engineering properties. MSW is found to have a highly anisotropic structure, which has implications in engineering practice owing to variations in the shear capacity, compressibility, and especially the flow of liquids and gas through the waste mass. MSW has a significant biogas generation capacity, and the rate of degradation is affected by the presence of moisture. MSW is a highly compressible material, and landfill settlements resulting from this compressibility may affect not only the operation of a landfill.
Get full access to this chapter
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
References
Athanasopoulos, G. A. 2010. “Laboratory testing of municipal solid waste.” In Geotechnical characterization, field measurement, and laboratory testing of municipal solid waste, Geotechnical Special Publication 209, edited by D. Zekkos, 195–205. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Bareither, C. A., C. H. Benson, and T. B. Edil. 2012a. “Effects of waste composition and decomposition on the shear strength of municipal solid waste.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 138 (10): 1161–1174.
Bareither, C. A., C. H. Benson, and T. B. Edil. 2012b. “Compression behavior of municipal solid waste: Immediate compression.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 138 (9): 1047–1062.
Bareither, C. A., C. H. Benson, and T. B. Edil. 2013. “Compression of municipal solid waste in bioreactor landfills: Mechanical creep and biocompression.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 139 (7): 1007–1021.
Bareither, C. A., C. H. Benson, E. M. Rohlf, and J. Scalia IV. 2020. “Hydraulic and mechanical behavior of municipal solid waste and high-moisture waste mixtures.” Waste Manage. 105: 540–549.
Bareither, C. A., and S. Kwak. 2015. “Assessment of municipal solid waste settlement models based on field-scale data analysis.” Waste Manage. 42 (8): 101–117.
Barlaz, M. A., R. K. Ham, and D. M. Schaefer. 1990. “Methane production from municipal refuse: A review of enhancement techniques and microbial dynamics.” CRC Crit. Rev. Environ. Control 19 (6): 541–557.
Bear, J. 1979. Hydraulics of groundwater. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Beaven, R. P., W. Powrie, and K. Zardava. 2011. “Hydraulic properties of MSW.” In Geotechnical characterization, field measurement, and laboratory testing of municipal solid waste, Geotechnical Special Publication 209, edited by D. Zekkos, 1–43. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Bonaparte, R., R. C. Bachus, and B. A. Gross. 2020. “Geotechnical stability of waste fills: Lessons learned and continuing challenges.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 146 (11): 05020010.
Bray, J. D., and E. R. Rathje. 1998. “Earthquake-induced displacements of solid-waste landfills.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 124 (3): 242–253.
Bray, J. D., D. Zekkos, E. Kavazanjian Jr., G. A. Athanasopoulos, et al. 2009. “Shear strength of municipal solid waste.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 135 (6): 709–722.
Breitmeyer, R. J., C. H. Benson, and T. B. Edil. 2019. “Effects of compression and decomposition on saturated hydraulic conductivity of municipal solid waste in bioreactor landfills.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 145 (4): 04019011.
Breitmeyer, R. J., C. H. Benson, and T. B. Edil. 2020. “Effect of changing unit weight and decomposition on unsaturated hydraulics of municipal solid waste in bioreactor landfills.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 146 (5): 04020021.
Datta, S., D. Zekkos, X. Fei, and J. McDougall. 2021. “Waste-composition-dependent ‘HBM’ model parameters based on degradation experiments.” Environ. Geotech. 8 (2): 124–133.
Dixon, N., and U. Langer. 2006. “Development of a MSW classification system for the evaluation of mechanical properties.” Waste Manage. 26 (3): 220–232.
Eid, H. T., T. D. Stark, W. D. Douglas, and P. E. Sherry. 2000. “Municipal solid waste slope failure. I: Waste and foundation soil properties.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 126 (5): 397–407.
Fei, X., and D. Zekkos. 2018. “Coupled experimental assessment of physico-biochemical characteristics of municipal solid waste undergoing enhanced biodegradation.” Géotechnique 68 (12): 1031–1043.
Hudson, A. P., R. P. Beaven, and W. Powrie. 2009. “Assessment of vertical and horizontal hydraulic conductivities of household waste in a large scale compression cell.” In Proc., 12th Waste Management and Landfill Symp., edited by R. Cossu, L. F. Diaz, and R. Stegman, 641–642. Sardinia, Italy: IWWG.
Karimi, S., and C. A. Bareither. 2021. “The influence of moisture enhancement on solid waste biodegradation.” Waste Manage. 123 (15): 131–141.
Kavazanjian, E., Jr. 2008. “The impact of degradation on MSW shear strength.” In GeoCongress 2008: Geotechnics of Waste Management and Remediation, 224–231. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Kavazanjian, E., Jr., N. Matasovic, R. Bonaparte, and G. R. Schmertmann. 1995. “Evaluation of MSW properties for seismic analysis.” In Geoenvironment 2000: Proc., Specialty Conf. on Geotechnical Practice in Waste Disposal, Part 1, Geotechnical Special Publication 46, 1126–1141. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Landva, A. O., S. G. Pelkey, and A. J. Valsangkar. 1998. “Coefficient of permeability of municipal refuse.” In Proc., 3rd Int. Congress on Environmental Geotechnics, 163–167. Netherlands: Balkema-Rotterdam.
Manassero, M., W. F. Van Impe, and A. Bouazza. 1996. “Waste disposal and containment.” In Vol. 3 of Proc., 2nd Int. Congress on Environmental Geotechnics, 1425–1474. Rotterdam, Netherlands: A.A. Balkema.
Merry, S. M., E. Kavazanjian Jr., and W. U. Fritz. 2005. “Reconnaissance of the July 10, 2000, Payatas landfill failure.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil. 19 (2): 100–107. Doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0887-3828(2005)19:2(100)
Powrie, W., and R. P. Beaven. 1999. “Hydraulic properties of household waste and implications for landfills.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Geotech. Eng. 137 (4): 235–237.
Qian, X. 2011. “Stability analyses and leachate head calculations for bioreactor landfills.” In Design and operation of bioreactor landfills. ASCE Continuing Education. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Qian, X., R. M. Koerner, and D. H. Gray. 2002. Geotechnical aspects of landfill design and construction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Sharma, H. D., and A. De. 2007. “Municipal solid waste landfill settlement: Postclosure perspectives.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 133 (6): 619–629.
Shi, J., X. Qian, J. Zhu, and Y. Li. 2009. “Application of shear strength of solid waste and multilayer liner in landfills.” In Advances in environmental geotechnics, edited by Y. Chen, L. Zhan, and X. Tang, 286–294. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
Stoltz, G., J. P. Gourc, and L. Oxarango. 2010. “Liquid and gas permeabilities of unsaturated municipal solid waste under compression.” J. Contam. Hydrol. 118 (1–2): 27–42. Doi: 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2010.07.008
Tchobanoglous, G., H. Theisen, and S. Vigil. 1993. Integrated solid waste management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Townsend, T. G., W. L. Miller, and J. F. K. Earle. 1995. “Leachate recycle infiltration ponds.” J. Environ. Eng. 121 (6): 465–471.
USEPA (US Environmental Protection Agency). 2021. “Report on the environment.” Accessed: March 12, 2021. https://cfpub.epa.gov/roe/indicator.cfm?i=53.
USEPA. 2023. “National overview: Facts and figures on materials, wastes and recycling.” Accessed April 19, 2023. https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials.
Xu, Q., J. Powell, T. Tolaymat, and T. Townsend. 2013. “Seepage control strategies at bioreactor landfills.” J. Hazard. Toxic Radioact. Waste 17 (4): 342–350.
Yuan, P., E. Kavazanjian Jr., W. Chen, and B. Seo. 2011. “Compositional effects on the dynamic properties of municipal solid waste.” Waste Manage. 31 (12): 2380–2390.
Zekkos, D., ed. 2011. Geotechnical characterization, field measurement, and laboratory testing of municipal solid waste. Geotechnical Special Publication 209. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Zekkos, D. 2013. “Experimental evidence of anisotropy in municipal solid waste.” In Proc., Coupled Phenomena in Environmental Geotechnics, 69–79. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Zekkos, D., and X. Fei. 2017. “Constant load and constant volume response of municipal solid waste in simple shear.” Waste Manage. 63: 380–392.
Zekkos, D., J. D. Bray, and M. F. Riemer. 2008. “Shear modulus and material damping of municipal solid waste based on large-scale cyclic triaxial testing.” Can. Geotech. J. 45 (1): 45–58.
Zekkos, D., J. D. Bray, E. Kavazanjian Jr., N. Matasovic, et al. 2006. “Unit weight of municipal solid waste.” J. Geotech.Geoenviron. Eng. 132 (10): 1250–1261.
Zekkos, D., X. Fei, A. Grizi, and G. A. Athanasopoulos. 2016. “Response of municipal solid waste to mechanical compression.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 143 (3): 04016101.
Zekkos, D., E. Kavazanjian Jr., J. D. Bray, N. Matasovic, et al. 2010a. “Physical characterization of municipal solid waste for geotechnical purposes.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 136 (9): 1231–1241.
Zekkos, D., N. Matasovic, R. El-Sherbiny, A. Athanasopoulos-Zekkos, et al. 2010b. “Dynamic properties of municipal solid waste.” In Geotechnical characterization, field measurement, and laboratory testing of municipal solid waste, edited by D. Zekkos, 112–134. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Zhan, L., Y. Chen, and W. Ling. 2007. “Shear strength characterization of municipal solid waste at the Suzhou landfill, China.” Eng. Geol. 97 (2): 97–111.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geoenvironmental Engineering: Site and Contaminant Characterization, Containment Facilities, Solid Waste Materials, and Contaminated Ground Interventions
Pages: 117 - 128
Editor: Dimitrios Zekkos, Ph.D., P.E.
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8549-1
ISBN (Print): 978-0-7844-1623-5
Copyright
© 2024 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Jul 8, 2024
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.