Solid Waste Landfills in Middle- and Lower-Income Countries: A Technical Guide to Planning, Design, and Operation (World Bank Technical Paper No 426)

All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America First printing February 1999 Technical Papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank's work to the development community with the least possible delay. The typescript of this paper therefore has not been prepared in accordance with the procedures appropriate to formal printed texts, and the World Bank accepts no responsibility for errors. Some sources cited in this paper may be informal documents that are not readily available. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this volume do not imply on the part of the World Bank Group any judgment on the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. As cities grow and produce more waste, deciding where all the waste will go becomes a public health priority. Although many cities have reserved dumps for waste, the dumps are open. Therefore, converting these dumps to controlled and sanitary landfills is a critical step for protecting public health and the environment. This guide serves as a practical tool for waste managers in middle- and lower-income countries to make gradual improvements in the short term by upgrading disposal of wastes at modest cost, while still providing acceptable levels of environmental protection. In the medium to long term, the target should be to achieve full sanitary landfilling along with comprehensive policies and programs to reduce waste generation and increase recycling when it is economically viable. This technical guide seeks to demonstrate that, by encouraging small, continuous improvements in landfill siting, construction, and operation, the accumulative effect over time is the achievement of better operations. The guide does not seek an immediate adoption of sanitary landfill practices. Instead, sanitary landfill is regarded as an eventual goal for which middle- and lower-income countries can plan during the course of several years. A common theme throughout the guide is the emphasis on the practical ways landfills can evolve, as resources and confidence increase, from open dumps to "controlled" dumps to "engineered" landfills and perhaps, one day, to sanitary landfills