Overview of Subtitle D Landfill Design, Operation, Closure and Postclosure Care Relative to Providing Public Health and Environmental Protection for as Long as the Wastes in the Landfill will be a Threat

This discussion provides information for members of the public and others who are concerned about the appropriateness of using minimum Subtitle D landfills for managing municipal solid and industrial “nonhazardous ” wastes, with particular emphasis on providing for true long-term public health and environmental protection from these wastes that are placed in the landfills. The discussion presented herein is based on the senior author’s experience in investigating the properties of landfill liners and the characteristics of today’s landfills, relative to their ability to prevent groundwater pollution and other environmental impacts for as long as the wastes in the landfill will be a threat. Additional information on the issues discussed herein is available in papers and reports cited as references. The authors have developed a number of papers and reports that discuss the details of the topics summarized below. The most relevant sources of background information on the topics discussed are Lee and Jones-Lee (1994, 1998a,b) and Lee (2002), as well as other sources cited in the references to this paper. The US EPA has developed a website on landfill safety, which can best be characterized as propaganda, trying to convey to the public that today’s minimum Subtitle D landfills ar