Landfill Leachate Engineered Solution: Construction & Demolition Landfill, North Carolina - Case Study

Avivid Global Water was contracted by a Construction & Demolition (C&D) landfill in North Carolina to develop a unique solution for their landfill leachate. This site was recognized locally as producing some of the worst smelling landfill leachate in the area, and as the water was trucked through town on the way to the local publicly owned treatment works it was causing public concern. Standard treatment techniques were unable to reduce the smell to levels acceptable to the public. The client’s main goals were reduction of total suspended solids (TSS) and odor while still maintaining reasonable OPEX costs.

Landfill leachate is created when waste placed in a landfill is exposed to natural precipitation, surface run-off, infiltration or intrusion of groundwater which trickles through the mixed materials, dissolving and adsorbing chemicals as it percolates through the landfill. Leachate production is increased by the humidity rate of the waste on site and the chemical and physical disposal reactions of waste within the cell. The diverse components of the leachate are due to the makeup of the waste within the landfill which can be composed of a toxic mix of heavy metals, such as mercury and arsenic, microorganisms, hazardous organic compounds, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and per fluorinated compounds (e.g., PFOS and PFOA, aka “forever chemicals”). Often referred to as contaminants of emerging concern, these substances pose risks to human health and the environment and are resistant to degradation.