Chapter 3: Production of Fuels from Landfills Check Access

A landfill site is an area of land that has been specifically engineered to allow for the deposition of waste on to and into it. Municipal solid waste landfill sites are a large source of human-related methane emissions and, in some countries such as the United States, can account for up to 25 percent of these emissions. At the same time, methane emissions from landfills represent a lost opportunity to capture and use a significant energy resource.

Landfills may include internal waste disposal sites (where a producer of waste carries out their own waste disposal at the place of production) as well as sites used by many producers. Many landfills are also used for other waste management purposes, such as the temporary storage, consolidation and transfer, or processing of waste material (sorting, treatment, or recycling). A landfill also may refer to ground that has been filled in with soil and rocks instead of waste materials, so that it can be used for a specific purpose, such as for building houses.

This chapter presents a review of the different types of landfill and the means by which landfill gas is generated.