Survey on the current leachate treatments of public municipal solid waste landfills and the potential impact of per- and polyfluorinatedalkyl substances in the Eastern and Northwestern United States

Figures & data

Figure 1. The five regions were surveyed during this study. The numbers by the region indicate the total number of landfills and the response rate of that region. Nine landfills did not provide their locations.

Figure 2. The logical flow of the survey on the current leachate treatments of public municipal solid waste landfills and the potential PFAS impact in the Eastern and Northwestern United States.

Figure 3. The leachate generated per ton of waste from the landfills in the five regions in the year 2021.

Figure 4. The current leachate treatment methods responded by the public-owned landfills.

Figure 5. The breakdown of onsite treatment technologies reported by the public-owned landfills.

Figure 6. Cost per gallon for each onsite application compared with data in SWANA (2014).

Table 1. The breakdown of pre-treatment technologies and the associated cost.

Region	Treatment	Cost
Northwest Landfill 1	Pre-treatment by aeration and discharge to POTW	N/A
Midwest Landfill 1	Pre-treatment with pH adjustment, CO2 and NH3 stripping, heavy metals removal via clarifier. Discharge to aeration lagoons and then POTW.	Approximately $0.025 per gallon
Mid-Atlantic Landfill 1	Pre-treatment by evaporation and settling and discharge to WWTP	$0.01 per gallon
Mid-Atlantic Landfill 2	Pre-treatment by aeration, discharge to two local POTW	$0.01 per gallon
Mid-Atlantic Landfill 3	Pre-treatment by mixing and settling, and Discharge to sanitary sewer and POTW	$0.0038 per gallon charged by the POTW
Southeast Landfill 1	Pre-treatment by biological treatment and discharge to wastewater treatment	N/A
Southeast Landfill 2	Pre-treatment by aeration and discharge to POTW	Approximately $0.025 per gallon.
Southeast Landfill 3	Pre-treatment by SBR and discharge to POTW	$0.0062 per gallon. Approximately $ 21000 per month for operation and maintenance costs. Capital costs vary.

Note. Two landfills (each from Mid-Atlantic and Southeast) did not provide the treatment methods and cost information.

Figure 7. Transportation and disposal costs for off-site treatment provided by this study.

Figure 8. The responses from landfill managers on the potential PFASs impact on the landfill leachate treatment.

SWANA Applied Research Foundation. 2014. Onsite Treatment of Landfill Leachate. Solid Waste Association of North America. https://store.swana.org/store/detail.aspx?id=ARF14OSTLL.

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author [JC]. The data are not publicly available since it contains information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.