What happens when a landfill closes?

Landfills eventually fill up. Then they have to close. Sometimes a landfill closure happens for political reasons before it's full. What happens to the old landfill site then? Before the answer can make any sense, we have to understand what a landfill is. A landfill serves as the final resting place for most trash. read more

The landfill that serves Hilo and the eastern part of the island of Hawaii will have to close in one to three years. It has accepted between 175 and 220 tons of trash every day. Implementing an environmentally satisfactory landfill closure plan will cost about $10 million. read more

A landfill will typically close because it has reached its capacity of waste. Because of the policy Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the owner of the landfill must continue to monitor groundwater, leachate and methane collection and disposal for 30 years after it was closed. read more

Even after a landfill is closed, the trash buried there will remain. Trash put in a landfill will stay there for a very long time. Inside a landfill, there is little oxygen and little moisture. read more