CHARACTERISTICS OF LANDED MATERIAL FROM AN ABANDONED WASTE DUMP IN BRAZIL

摘要

Waste dumps (improper landfills) were widely used in developing countries due to their low installation/operation costs and land availability. According to several national sanitation surveys in Brazil, more than 90% (in 1989) and 70% (in 2008) of its municipalities reported improper land disposal sites for municipal solid waste. Given the importance of the impacts of waste management on the quality of water resources, this article highlights that old waste dumps represent potentially polluting sources to the environment. The way to accomplish this is by presenting what we discovered during the building of the Leachate Monitoring Station (LMS) and after analysing landed material taken in situ. The LMS was installed within the waste body of an abandoned waste dump in Brazil and enabled landed material sampling. We argue that field study in waste dumps improves fundamental understanding of landed material characteristics, which enhances the need to continuously monitor of these areas.