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18-Env-A6 Solid Waste Engineering and Management · May 2013

Question 5 of 17: Problems with Landfilling

Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)

Notes on this paper

National Examination, May 2013 — 04-Env-A6 / 18-Env-A6, Solid Waste Engineering and Management. 3 hours duration, closed book, one letter-sized aid sheet permitted. All 17 questions constitute a complete paper (100 marks total).

Reference texts: Tchobanoglous, Theisen & Vigil, Integrated Solid Waste Management: Engineering Principles and Management Issues; Vesilind, Worrell & Reinhart, Solid Waste Engineering; Davis & Cornwell, Introduction to Environmental Engineering (6th ed.); CCME, Guidance Document on Landfill Gas Management.

Check: several questions on this paper (Q1, Q13, Q14, Q17) supply an incomplete data set and explicitly invite the candidate to "make and state" assumptions. Every assumed value below is called out where it is introduced and is chosen from standard solid-waste-engineering practice; the governing METHOD, not the specific assumed number, is what the exam is testing.

Question 5: Problems with Landfilling (3 marks)

Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.

(1) Leachate generation — percolating water through the waste mass can contaminate groundwater and surface water if not fully contained and treated; (2) landfill gas production — anaerobic decomposition generates methane (explosive in confined spaces, e.g., migrating into nearby buildings) and is a significant greenhouse gas if uncaptured; and (3) land scarcity and siting opposition — suitable sites (adequate geology, buffer distance from receptors, access) are increasingly hard to find and site approval faces strong community resistance.