scholarly journals Paradigms on landfill mining: From dump site scavenging to ecosystem services revitalization

2017 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 73-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juris Burlakovs ◽  
Mait Kriipsalu ◽  
Maris Klavins ◽  
Amit Bhatnagar ◽  
Zane Vincevica-Gaile ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Dump Site ◽  
Landfill Mining

Hunting for valuables from landfills and assessing their market opportunities A case study with Kudjape landfill in Estonia

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 627-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Bhatnagar ◽  
Fabio Kaczala ◽  
Juris Burlakovs ◽  
Mait Kriipsalu ◽  
Marika Hogland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fine Fraction ◽  
Extraction Methods ◽  
Average Chemical Composition ◽  
Dump Site ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Material Recycling ◽  
Landfill Mining ◽  
Metals Recovery ◽  
Market Opportunities

Landfill mining is an alternative technology that merges the ideas of material recycling and sustainable waste management. This paper reports a case study to estimate the value of landfilled materials and their respective market opportunities, based on a full-scale landfill mining project in Estonia. During the project, a dump site (Kudjape, Estonia) was excavated with the main objectives of extracting soil-like final cover material with the function of methane degradation. In total, about 57,777 m3 of waste was processed, particularly the uppermost 10-year layer of waste. Manual sorting was performed in four test pits to determine the detailed composition of wastes. 11,610 kg of waste was screened on site, resulting in fine (<40 mm) and coarse (>40 mm) fractions with the share of 54% and 46%, respectively. Some portion of the fine fraction was sieved further to obtain a very fine grained fraction of <10 mm and analyzed for its potential for metals recovery. The average chemical composition of the <10 mm soil-like fraction suggests that it offers opportunities for metal (Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) extraction and recovery. The findings from this study highlight the importance of implementing best available site-specific technologies for on-site separation up to 10 mm grain size, and the importance of developing and implementing innovative extraction methods for materials recovery from soil-like fractions.

scholarly journals Landfill Mining in Latvia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elīna Dāce ◽  
Rūta Bendere
Keyword(s):  
Energy Recovery ◽  
Landfill Gas ◽  
Dump Site ◽  
Landfill Mining ◽  
Council Directive ◽  
Appropriate Treatment ◽  
Sanitary Landfills ◽  
Treatment Technologies ◽  
Management Method ◽  
Mining Projects

A lot of efforts and scientific research have been done in the field of material and energy recovery from waste, offering source separation and recycling of waste, landfill gas extraction from landfill cells, composting of biodegradable waste etc. Nevertheless, disposal of waste in dumpsites and landfills has been and still is the most widely used waste management method throughout the world, including Latvia. In recent years a concept of a landfill as an endpoint of waste is slowly changing to a concept of landfill as a place for temporary storage of waste. According to Hogland et.al., there are up to 500 000 landfills and dumpsites in Europe, that contain valuable resources which can be recovered and used in production of new products. Since implementation of the Council Directive of April 26, 1999 on the landfill of waste, more than 500 dumpsites have been closed and 11 new sanitary landfills have started operating in Latvia. Largest part of the dumpsites are remediated, however the rest are still waiting for remediation projects. During the last twenty years practical examples of waste excavation from dumpsites and landfills have been carried out, showing that resource recovery from deposited waste can be a solution, especially in the cases of high land value or scarcity of covering materials. The aim of the paper is to assess the existing status of non-remediated dumpsites to identify the problems and challenges potentially faced for conducting the landfill mining projects in Latvia, as well as to show the existing practice on landfill mining in our country. The results of the paper show that some of the most challenging problems are issues of the ownership of dumpsites, the unknown content of the waste deposited, the lack of appropriate treatment technologies for excavated waste, as well as the lack of legislative acts concerning landfill mining and land use after cleaning of dump site. The case of excavating dumpsite ‘Kekava’ near Riga city is analyzed in the paper.

The Methow Beaver Project: the Challenges of an Ecosystem Services Experiment

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Philip Brick ◽  
Kent Woodruff
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Castor Canadensis ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Natural Resource Policy ◽  
Watershed Scale ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Climate Conditions

This case explores the Methow Beaver Project (MBP), an ambitious experiment to restore beaver (Castor canadensis) to a high mountain watershed in Washington State, USA. The Pacific Northwest is already experiencing weather regimes consistent with longer term climate projections, which predict longer and drier summers and stronger and wetter winter storms. Ironically, this combination makes imperative more water storage in one of the most heavily dammed regions in the nation. Although the positive role that beaver can play in watershed enhancement has been well known for decades, no project has previously attempted to re-introduce beaver on a watershed scale with a rigorous monitoring protocol designed to document improved water storage and temperature conditions needed for human uses and aquatic species. While the MBP has demonstrated that beaver can be re-introduced on a watershed scale, it has been much more difficult to scientifically demonstrate positive changes in water retention and stream temperature, given hydrologic complexity, unprecedented fire and floods, and the fact that beaver are highly mobile. This case study can help environmental studies students and natural resource policy professionals think about the broader challenges of diffuse, ecosystem services approaches to climate adaptation. Beaver-produced watershed improvements will remain difficult to quantify and verify, and thus will likely remain less attractive to water planners than conventional storage dams. But as climate conditions put additional pressure on such infrastructure, it is worth considering how beaver might be employed to augment watershed storage capacity, even if this capacity is likely to remain at least in part inscrutable.

The issue of radioactive contamination in context of ecosystem services development

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Chobotko ◽  
L. Raychuk ◽  
I. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Type Region ◽  
State Register ◽  
Agrarian Policy ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Radiation Contamination ◽  
Logical Research

The aim of the article was to defi ne the role of the radioactive environment contamination in the formation of ecosystem services strategy. Methods. Monographic, systemic and structural, factor analysis, abstract and logical research methods have been used. The data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, materials of scientifi c researches, international materials and reports and other literary sources on the issues investigated have been used as an information base. Results. Retrospective analysis of sources and state of radioactive eco- systems contamination was conducted and the priority steps in developing the concept of ecosystem services in conditions of radiation contamination were found. Conclusions. The current socio-ecological paradigm of the transition from environmental use to environmental management should be refl ected in the relevant envi- ronmental management mechanisms. Currently, when assessing the state of ecosystem services in Ukraine and worldwide one must take into account the changes in food demand of residents of radioactively contaminated areas, the exploitation of radioactively safe ecosystems growth, their overload and degradation. All of this re- quires an inventory of ecosystem services by type, region, consumers, etc. and the formation of a state register of ecosystem services with a clear assignment of area of responsibility for appropriate natural ecosystems. This will help to make the economic evaluation of different ecosystem services and mechanisms of charges for ecosystem services.

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