Enhanced landfill mining - a future perspective of landfilling

Abstract

Governments and co-operations are aware of the fact that more sustainable consumption and production practices are required. Efforts are being made to produce less waste while increasing the recycling ratio. Concurrently, it is of importance to place landfilling in a sustainable context. The present paper discusses a novel concept where a landfill is no longer considered as a final solution but rather as a ‘temporary storage place, awaiting future valorisation’. Enhanced Landfill Mining (ELFM) offers the opportunity to select the most suitable moment to recycle certain waste streams, depending for instance on the state of the technology. Recently, a transdisciplinary consortium was established. The first, embryonic elements of this new vision are presented in this paper. To make matters more tangible, the ‘Closing the Circle’ case-study is used to illustrate the ELFM concept. The economics are influenced by technical and society driven parameters. In order to successfully transitionise this novel view on waste management, a multi-actor approach is of paramount importance.