**3. Regulations**

152 Management of Organic Waste

depending on the landfill, with respect to age and restrictions of dumping hazardous waste (Kjeldsen et al, 2002). Recently, some emerging leachate contaminants, such as perfluorinated chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and engineered nanomaterials, at trace levels have been paid special attention to. However, their fates in leachate are poorly understood. For landfill gases, oxygen and nitrogen gases predominate in the initial phase because they, trapped from air, are buried together with solid waste, reflecting the composition of air. However, carbon dioxide and methane will gradually take over as products of anaerobic degradation of organic wastes. VOCs and ammonia may be present in landfill gases. Particularly, ammonia-nitrogen exists in forms of ammonium ions and dissolved ammonia gas in leachate. During methanogenic phases, leachate pH is back to neutral and even basic, and the fraction of dissolved ammonia will be increased. Therefore, the content of ammonia in landfill gases will be relatively high at these phases, and it can be quantitatively analyzed using the Henry's law that governs the distribution of dissolved ammonia gas in leachate

Almost everything humans do creates wastes. However, waste did not become a problem until humans left the nomadic lifestyle and starting living in communities. As the world population has increase and changed from a rural agrarian society to a urban industrial society, the disposal of waste has become more concentrated. Dumping trash in the middle of cities was common practice in the United States until scientists linked human health problems to sanitary conditions in the early 1800's. In the early 20th century North America, cities began to collect garbage and either incinerated it at a landfill or home, or placed it in an unlined landfill (NSWMA, n.d.; Duffy, 2008). One of the first landfills was created in California in 1935, which consisted of a hole in the ground occasionally covered with soil (NSWMA, n.d.). Dumps were usually small and scattered affecting many areas (Duffy, 2008). Approximately 85% of U.S. sanitary landfills are unlined (Pipkin et al, 2010) and many are not covered, coming into direct contact with and polluting the air, groundwater and soil. Open dump burning was a common practice to reduce the volume of waste and increase the remaining capacity. When a landfill was closed, soil of varying thickness and

After the passage of laws and regulations that banned open burning at dumps, waste was spread into layers and regularly compacted to reduce the total volume, increase stability, and extend the life of the landfill. Modern landfills are located, operated, designed, closed, and monitored to ensure that the environment is appropriately protected (Environmental Industry Association, 2011). Newer landfills are restricted from being built in floodplains, wetlands, fault zones, and seismic impact zones unless the landfills have structural integrity and protective measures in place to protect human and environmental health. Protective operational procedures include rejecting hazardous and bulk materials, non- containerized liquids, the restriction of open burning, securing site access, and keeping up-to-date records on groundwater, surface water, and air monitoring results. Landfills are now designed with leachate collection and liner systems to prevent the migration of leachate off-site. A liner of low permeability materials such as clay, geotextiles, or plastic, with a leachate collection and recovery system placed on top of the liner. The leachate collected are either treated on or offsite at a wastewater treatment plant, while the gases produced are burned or converted into energy (i.e. electricity, heat, steam, replacement of natural gas, or vehicle fuel). Waste is

and ammonia gas in landfill gases.

slopes were placed over the waste (Duffy, 2008).

**2.2 Landfill designs** 

The Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965 was the first regulation on waste disposal in the United States, and formed the national office of solid waste. Within the following 10 years, every state had regulations on the management of solid waste, varying from the banning of open burning to requiring permits and regulations on design and operational standards (NSWMA, n.d.).

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), passed by Congress in 1976, and the RCRA Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments in 1984 granted the US Environmental Protection Agency regulatory control over the disposal of waste (Hanson & Caponi, 2009). The program was implemented to assess the problems associated with an increasing amount of municipal and industrial wastes that the nation was confronted with. RCRA separated hazardous and non-hazardous waste and mandated the Environmental Protection Agency to create design, operational, locational, environmental monitoring standards, to close or upgrade existing landfills, and secure funding for long-term assessment of the landfill (NSWMA, n.d.).

The solid waste program, under Subtitle D, requires states to create management plans, set criteria for solid waste, and restrict the use of open dumping. Subtitle D's regulations lead to the creation of larger, regional landfills and waste management companies, which improves environmental and economical integrity relative to the small, scattered dumps of the past. Larger waste management facilities are more cost effective in terms of capacity, volume, and operational resources (i.e. staff and equipment) to meet the increasing volume of waste (Duffy, 2008).

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act addresses only active and future landfill sites, while the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), otherwise known as Superfund, focuses on abandoned or historical sites (EPA, 2011). The Environmental Protection Agency, through the Superfund program, holds the parties responsible for clean up or if no responsible party can be identified, the Agency uses money from a special trust fund. This program is a complex, long-term cleanup process involving assessment, placement on the National Priorities List (NPL), and implementation of appropriate cleanup plans (EPA, 2011). The National Priority List is a list of the sites

Landfill Management and Remediation Practices in New Jersey, United States 155

open spaces in such a densely populated state, having to accept even the unprofitable segment of the waste, the numerous taxes and surcharges supporting recycling programs, and the need for the proper closure of landfills in the future. In certain counties, the state decided to subsidize the debt payments and cleared certain loans related to solid waste

The Statewide Waste Management Act amended in 1975 mandated districts to establish solid waste management systems with emphasis on resource recovery such as recycling, composting, and incineration to minimize the disposal of waste in landfills. In the beginning of the 1980's, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) permitted the solid waste management plans for the 22 solid waste management districts, which include the 21 counties in New Jersey and the New Jersey Meadowland Commission. Currently, New Jersey contains 16 operating landfills, five of which have resource recovery facilities

+The districts/ counties use four waste management systems, including non-discriminatory bidding flow control, intrastate flow control, market participant, and free market controls. The non-discriminatory bidding flow control is brought about due to the nondiscriminatory bidding process, opening the bidding of contracts to companies both in-state and out-of-state for the disposal of a county's waste. The intrastate flow control system requires that all waste should be disposed of within the same county as it was generated, unless transported out-of-state for disposal. In a market participant system, a county owned facility is permitted to compete with in and out- of- state disposal facilitates, and the free market system permits the ability to make freely agreed upon terms between the district/county, transporter, and disposal facility. Eight districts have the nondiscriminatory bidding flow control, while the other districts utilize either a market participant or free market approach for disposal of the solid waste generated within their

Figure 1 depicts the solid waste disposal trends in New Jersey from 1985 to 2003 including in state and out-of-state disposal statistics. These figures illustrate a steady rise in solid waste generation during this period. This increase may be attributed to a strong economic

Figure 2 shows the amounts of solid waste exported to the various neighboring states from 1990 to 2003. The export rates steadily increase for Pennsylvania and Ohio and more recently Delaware. The figure clearly shows that Pennsylvania receives the majority of New

In 2003, New Jersey generated more than 19.8 million tons of solid waste, with 9.5 million tons sent for disposal. Of the 9.5 million tons disposed, sixty percent of the waste was disposed at facilities, including recycling facilities, in New Jersey, while forty percent or 3.9 million tons were sent to out-of-state facilities. The amount of exported waste has been

management (NJDEP, 2006).

**4.1 County plans** 

(NJDEP, 2006).

borders. (NJDEP, 2006)

**4.2 Waste generation** 

landscape in New Jersey or a population rise.

increasing over the years (NJDEP, 2006).

Jersey waste if it is exported out-of-state (NJDEP, 2006).

contaminated by hazardous waste and pollutants in the United States, eligible for long-term remedial action financed under the federal Superfund program, and guides the Environmental Protection Agency to which sites need further environmental assessments (EPA, 2011).
