Characterization and Utilization of Landfill-Mined-Soil-Like-Fractions (LFMSF) for Sustainable Development: A Critical Appraisal

Unscientifically Created Landfills and Dumps, UCLDs, pose a severe threat to geoenvironment due to uncontrolled release of greenhouse gases and toxic leachate, accidental fire(s) and occasional slope failure(s). Further, UCLDs also become a socio-economic burden on the municipalities through the consumption of enormous land of the modern-day cities and creation of unhealthy living conditions for the surrounding populace. However, an increase in demand for the land to settle the ever-growing population of such cities and to meet the infrastructural requirements, the habitable boundaries of these cities are expanding, and hence mining of the UCLDs, termed as landfill mining, LFM, is being advocated. Apart from this, LFM facilitates the recovery of resources such as metals, plastics, glass and paper from the landfill mined residues, LMRs. Despite these advantages, LFM faces a significant challenge due to the creation of huge volumes of fine-fractions, separated from the LMRs, also known as 'Landfill-Mined-Soil-like-Fractions', LFMSF, which primarily is a conglomeration of organics, soils, debris and smaller chips of metals, plastics, and glass. Unfortunately, utilization of the LFMSF, as a manmade resource, has still not become a well-accepted practice. This is mainly due to the lack of understanding of the characteristics of the LFMSF that are mostly site-specific. With this in view, synthesis of the literature dealing with the issues related to the characterization and utilization of the LFMSF was conducted. It has been realized that by developing and following adequate characterization protocols and guidelines, the LFMSF can be utilized as a manmade resource for sustainable development, without impacting the geoenvironment adversely. [GRAPHICS]

Automated summary

Unscientifically created landfills and dumps pose a severe threat to the geoenvironment due to the uncontrolled release of greenhouse gases and toxic leachate. Landfill mining is being advocated as a method to recover resources such as metals, plastics, glass, and paper from these sites, but it generates large volumes of fine-fractions, also known as 'Landfill-Mined-Soil-like-Fractions' (LFMSF), which are a mix of organics, soils, debris, and smaller chips of metals, plastics, and glass. Utilizing LFMSF as a manmade resource for sustainable development is still a challenge due to site-specific characteristics and lack of understanding.