Landfill

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-015337",
  "term": "Landfill",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "1. A method for final disposal of solid waste on land. The refuse is spread and compacted and a cover of soil applied so that effects on the environment (including public health and safety) are minimized. Under current regulations, landfills are required to have liners and leachate treatment systems to prevent contamination of ground water and surface waters. An industrial landfill disposes of non-hazardous industrial wastes. A municipal landfill disposes of domestic waste including garbage, paper, etc. This waste may include toxins that are used in the home, such as insect sprays and powders, engine oil, paints, solvents, and weed killers.\n\n2. Facility in which solid waste from municipal and/or industrial sources is disposed; sanitary landfills are those that are operated in accordance with environmental protection standards.\n\n3. A location for the disposal of wastes on land designed to protect the public from hazards in waste streams; sanitary landfills, designed to receive municipal solid waste, are distinguished from hazardous waste landfills, designed to isolate hazardous substances.\n\n4. Land waste disposal site in which waste is generally spread in thin layers, compacted, and covered with a fresh layer of soil each day.\n\n5. For purposes of RCRA Subtitle C, a disposal unit where nonliquid hazardous waste is placed in or on the land.\n\n6. A disposal site for solid wastes spread in layers, compacted to the smallest practical volume, and covered by material (e.g., soil). Landfills are designed to isolate waste from the surrounding environment (e.g., ground water, rain, air). Landfills are subject to requirements that include installing and maintaining a final cover, operating leachate collection and removal systems, maintaining and monitoring the leak detection system, ground water monitoring, preventing storm water run-on and -off, and installing and protecting surveyed benchmarks.\n\n7. Disposal facility or part of a facility where hazardous waste is placed in or on land and which is not a pile, a land treatment facility, a surface impoundment, an underground injection well, a salt dome formation, a salt bed formation, an underground mine, a cave, or a corrective action management unit.\n\n8. Area of land or an excavation in which wastes are placed for permanent disposal and that is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well, or waste pile as those terms are defined under 40 CFR 257.2. [40 CFR 98.6 (CFR 2013)]\n\n9. Area of land or an excavation in which wastes are placed for permanent disposal, and that is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well, or waste pile.\n\n10. Landfills are well-engineered facilities that are located, designed, operated, and monitored to ensure compliance with federal regulations. Solid waste landfills must be designed to protect the environment from contaminants which may be present in the solid waste stream. The landfill siting plan prevents the siting of landfills in environmentally-sensitive areas and provides additional safeguards.\n\n11. Area of land or an excavation in which wastes are placed for permanent disposal, and that is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well, or waste pile as those terms are defined under § 257.2 of this chapter.\n\n12. An engineered (by excavation or construction) or natural role in the ground into which wastes have been disposed of by backfilling or contemporaneous deposition of soil and wastes.\n\n13. Waste processing and disposal operation.",
  "subject": "Land, waste and cleanup",
  "references": [
    "Environmental Issues Terms & Acronyms; Pesticides Glossary",
    "Drinking Water Technical & Legal Terms",
    "Superfund for Students and Teachers Glossary",
    "Glossary of Climate Change Terms; Greenhouse Gas Emissions",
    "RCRA Orientation Manual 2008 Glossary",
    "EPA Report on the Environment Glossary at http://www.epa.gov/ncea/roe/glossary.htm; Report on the Environment (ROE) Glossary",
    "40 CFR 260.10 (CFR 2013)",
    "40 CFR 60.751 (CFR 2013)",
    "40 CFR 257.2 (CFR 2013)",
    "State and Local Climate and Energy Glossary",
    "40 CFR 63.1990 (CFR 2020)",
    "Hazard Ranking System Glossary",
    "DWMAPS Glossary"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/landfill/"
}