United States Environmental Protection Agency            
Solid Waste and Emergency Response
Office of Solid Waste (5305W)
EPA530-F-00-023 
April 2000 
Note:  Office of Solid Waste, OSW, was renamed Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, ORCR, on January 18, 2009


Environmental Fact Sheet: EPA Requests Information on
Bioreactor Landfills and Performance of Alternative Liners
for Landfills When Leachate is Recirculated


The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering
revisions to the Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste
Landfills (40 CFR Part 258) with respect to the use of
alternative liners when landfill leachate is recirculated
and with respect to allowing the operation of landfills as
more advanced bioreactors.  In order to proceed with any
revisions, EPA must obtain more information on these types
of landfill processes.
                        

Background                                                   
 
Under authority of the Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act, EPA issued revised Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste
Landfills  (40 CFR Part 258; 56 FR 50978) on October 9,
1991.  These criteria establish minimum national performance
standards necessary to ensure that "no reasonable
probability of adverse effects on health or the environment"
will result from solid waste disposal facilities.  MSWLFs
typically receive household waste, non-hazardous commercial,
institutional and industrial waste, household hazardous
waste and conditionally exempt small quantity generator
(CESQG) hazardous waste. 


Action

EPA is requesting comments and information on two issues
related to the Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills. 
First, we need data and information on the performance of
alternative liner designs compared to the performance of
composite liners when leachate is recirculated.  Provisions
in the municipal solid waste landfill (MSWLF) criteria
prohibit leachate recirculation at an MSWLF unless the unit
has a composite liner as described in these regulations. 
Recently, various stakeholder groups (e.g., States, local
governments, solid waste associations, and industry) have
suggested that there are alternative liner designs that
would work as well as, if not better than, the specific
liner designs currently required by the criteria.
  
Second, EPA is also requesting data and information on the
design and performance of bioreactor landfills. In recent
years, bioreactor landfills have gained recognition as a
possible innovation in solid waste management. The
bioreactor landfill is generally defined as a landfill
operated to transform and more quickly stabilize the readily
and moderately decomposable organic constituents of the
waste stream by purposeful control to enhance
microbiological processes.  Bioreactor landfills often
employ liquid addition including leachate recirculation,
alternative cover designs, and state-of-the-art landfill gas
collection systems.  
  
Respondents must send an original and two copies to the RCRA
information Center (RIC), Office of Solid Waste (5305G),
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, HQ), 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460.  Responses may
also be submitted electronically to rcra-docket@ epa.gov. 
All comments must be identified by the docket number
F-2000-ALPA-FFFFF.  Electronic responses must be submitted
as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and
any form of encryption.
Note:  Office of Solid Waste, OSW, was renamed Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, ORCR, on January 18, 2009