Page 319 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

CAT3525_C10.qxd 1/31/2005 12:00 PM Page 290
290 Waste Management Practices: Municipal, Hazardous, and Industrial

FIGURE 10.1 Landfill operated and
closed prior to the RCRA regulations.
Subsidence has occurred, creating a
toxic wetland. Leachate is exiting freely
from the sides of the landfill.

10.3 SITING THE LANDFILL
The Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR) has instituted six restrictions as related to landfill siting
in order to limit hazards to the local public and certain sensitive environments. Landfill owners and
operators are required to demonstrate that their units meet all these criteria.

10.3.1 AIRPORT SAFETY
As many landfills are cited along coastal areas, seagulls and other scavenging bird populations often
occur in high numbers. Concentrations of birds increase the likelihood of bird and aircraft collisions
that damage aircraft and injure its users. As a result, RCRA requires that all new and existing
MSWLF units, and lateral expansions located within 10,000 ft of an airport runway end used by tur-
bojet aircraft (or within 5,000 ft of an airport runway end used by only piston-type aircraft), must
not pose a bird hazard to aircrafts (40 CFR Part 258.10). In other words, the facility must be sited
far enough from an airport to prevent excessive bird populations from the airspace. Similarly, a
thick daily soil cover over the landfill cell will limit the attraction to birds.

10.3.2 FLOODPLAINS
Floodplains under the RCRA connotation are lowland and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and
coastal waters that are inundated by a 100 year flood, defined as one with a magnitude that equaled