Utilization of waste products as alternative landfill liner and cover materials - A critical review

Landfill sealing technologies comprise low hydraulic conductivity engineered layers as part of covers and bottom liners, for which clays and geosynthetic materials are conventionally used. In last decades, an increasing number of diverse wastes have been suggested as alternative landfill barrier materials. A comprehensive critical review on the different wastes proposed in the literature as components of landfills barriers is presented. The geotechnical and hydraulic properties, the advantages and disadvantages of the studied wastes are discussed, while their environmental impact issues are emphasized. Overall, several wastes were identified as technically suitable to be used in landfill barriers, nonetheless it is worth to mention that some of them also show concerning leaching of hazardous contaminants that could restrict their practical application in real landfills.