Permitting lateral and/or vertical expansions is the way for the landfill operators to remain in business, and that has resulted in permitted landfills becoming larger and taller. There are currently permitted landfills in the state of Florida or in other states with a maximum waste thickness exceeding 300 feet. Landfills with over 300-foot thicknesses may be rare, but there are many landfills with waste thicknesses over 200 feet in Florida. These landfills can apply significant compres-sive stresses on the leachate collection pipes placed below waste at the bottom of the landfill. Leachate collection pipes are considered the backbone for proper management of leachate in landfills. Without leachate collection pipes, leachate heads can quickly exceed the allowable maximum leachate head of 1.0 feet above the liner, and the agency would have to take action at that stage, possibly shutting down the landfill if leachate collection pipes are compromised to the point of not allowing flow through them.
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