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Environ Sci Technol. 2014;48(5):2920-7. doi: 10.1021/es404382s. Epub 2014 Feb 21.
Recent research and policy directives have emerged with a focus on sustainable management of waste materials, and the mining of old landfills represents an opportunity to meet sustainability goals by reducing the release of liquid- and gas-phase contaminants into the environment, recovering land for more productive use, and recovering energy from the landfilled materials. The emissions associated with the landfill mining process (waste excavation, screening, and on-site transportation) were inventoried on the basis of diesel fuel consumption data from two full-scale mining projects (1.3-1.5 L/in-place m(3) of landfill space mined) and unit emissions (mass per liter of diesel consumption) from heavy equipment typically deployed for mining landfills. An analytical framework was developed and used in an assessment of the life-cycle environmental impacts of a few end-use management options for materials deposited and mined from an unlined landfill. The results showed that substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions can be realized in both the waste relocation and materials and energy recovery scenarios compared to a "do nothing" case. The recovery of metal components from landfilled waste was found to have the greatest benefit across nearly all impact categories evaluated, while emissions associated with heavy equipment to mine the waste itself were found to be negligible compared to the benefits that mining provided.
最近的研究和政策指令都侧重于可持续管理废物材料，而旧垃圾填埋场的开采则提供了一个机会，可以通过减少液体和气相污染物释放到环境中、为更具生产力的用途回收土地以及从填埋材料中回收能源，来实现可持续性目标。根据两个全规模开采项目（每开采 1.3-1.5 升/立方米填埋空间消耗 1.3-1.5 升柴油）和用于垃圾填埋场开采的重型设备的单位排放量（每消耗 1 升柴油的质量），基于柴油燃料消耗数据，对垃圾填埋场开采过程（废物挖掘、筛选和现场运输）的排放进行了清单编制。开发了一个分析框架，并用于评估从无衬里垃圾填埋场中存放和开采的材料的几种最终用途管理选项的生命周期环境影响。结果表明，与“不作为”情况相比，在废物转移和材料及能源回收情景中可以实现大量温室气体减排。从填埋废物中回收金属成分在评估的几乎所有影响类别中都具有最大的益处，而与开采提供的益处相比，用于开采废物的重型设备的排放可以忽略不计。
