Increasing population growth and urbanization results in increased demand for waste disposal processes and facilities that can protect public health and the environment. In the Philippines, there is a great demand to construct sanitary landfills (SLF) with only 387 local government units (LGUs) or equivalent to 23.86% compliant to date with Republic Act 9003 which mandates all LGUs to use the sanitary landfill. The compaction characteristics of a locally abundant fine-grained soil at different compaction energy levels were investigated as part of a broader study in the suitability of the soil as a landfill liner material. Compaction is essential in the preparation of a well-compacted soil liner in a sanitary landfill to avoid or minimize the migration of leachate and thereby reduce the risk of groundwater pollution. The physical properties are determined through a series of laboratory tests which covers the grain-size distribution, specific gravity, Atterberg limits, soil classification, XRD and SEM-EDX. Correlations to estimate the compaction characteristics at any rational compaction energy (E) are developed. The maximum dry unit weight values at different compactive efforts were used to determine void ratios which were then utilized to compute for the saturated hydraulic conductivity using numerical model for hydraulic conductivity for the same soil type. The resulting hydraulic conductivity ranges from 2.30 x 10-7 to 1.20 x 10-7 cm/sec well above the required value in the Philippines as per RA 9003 and its IRR for the intended Category I and II SLFs application.

Sanitary landfills (SLFs) are usually employed as final waste disposal facility to protect public health and the environment. As a result of rapid population growth and urbanization, there is currently a great demand to construct SLFs in the Philippines. The hydraulic conductivity characteristics of remolded samples of a locally abundant fine-grained soil compacted at different compaction energy level is investigated to determine the suitability of the soil as landfill liner material. The hydraulic conductivity of lining system is one very salient feature of the SLF to prevent contamination of nearby soil and water sources. The physical properties of the soil are determined through a series of laboratory tests which includes the grain-size distribution, specific gravity, Atterberg limits, soil classification, Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The falling head laboratory test was conducted to determine the saturated coefficient of hydraulic conductivity. A numerical model was formulated that can predict hydraulic conductivity as a function of the void ratio. The resulting coefficient of hydraulic conductivity ranges from 1.98 x 10 -6 to 1.0 x 10 -7 cm/sec meet the Philippine standard requirement. The soil being classified as clay loam can readily be used as top lining material. However, additional study on unconfined compressive strength and volumetric shrinkage among other parameters is recommended prior to use of the fine-grained soil as bottom lining material as soil amendment maybe necessary.