Framework for the evaluation of anthropogenic resources: A landfill mining case study – Resource or reserve?

Winterstetter, Andrea; Laner, David; Rechberger, Helmut; Fellner, Johann

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.01.004

Cited by 61 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Systems analysis tools are increasingly used to evaluate the resource, environmental or economic potentials of full-scale landfill mining operations. These studies have shown that landfill mining can potentially lead to environmental and social benefits, but has difficulties in making a positive turnover (Frändegård et al, 2013;Van Passel et al, 2013;Marella & Raga, 2014;Jain et al, 2014;Herman et al, 2014;Damigos et al, 2015;Danthurebandara et al, 2015;Frändegård et al, 2015;Winterstetter et al, 2015).…”

Section: Landfill Mining As a Social-technical Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exactly how much of the total amount of waste in landfills is recyclable and thus constitutes reserves is uncertain (e.g. Winterstetter et al, 2015). The multiple objectives and drivers for landfill mining in terms of, for example, remediation, land reclamation, and the value of the landfill void, can make the resources in landfills available for reasons other than its intrinsic value.…”

Section: The Resource Potential Of Landfillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After all, compared to traditional mines, deposited minerals in a landfill are more refined and significantly closer to the market with its location on the outskirts of cities. However, some studies demonstrate moderate climate savings from recycling deposited waste and sometimes even negative impact (Winterstetter et al, 2015;Laner et al, 2016).…”

Section: Landfill Mining and The Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Paper II; EPA, 2013; Kurian et al, 2003;Hogland et al, 2004;Frändegård et al, 2013) or a mining activity (cf. Paper V; Van der Zee, 2004;EPA, 2015;Winterstetter et al, 2015). Such alternative regulatory framings could imply significant differences when it comes to the accessibility of deposited materials, marketability of the exhumed and processed materials, and the overall support of such an operation.…”

Section: Alternative Regulatory Framings Of Landfill Miningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Winterstetter et al, 2015) and become classified as national interests, as the authorities are negative to the resource potential in landfills (Paper V). According to the EPA (2015b), the biggest iron mine in Sweden has much higher concentrations than an average municipal landfill.…”

Section: The Other Side Of the Mineral Coinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landfill Mining : Institutional challenges for the implementation of resource extraction from waste deposits

Johansson¹

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Landfill mining is a term to describe the emerging field of exploring and extracting disposed material. The recovery of deposited resources may increase the flows of secondary resources and thereby replace a significant share of the primary production. The extraction of deposited materials may also be integrated with remediation and after care measures, to handle the many problematic landfills. Such unconventional recycling practices are, however, currently limited. The research in the field has mainly focused on technical evaluations of sorting efficiency, economic feasibility, and resource and environmental potential. Other issues of concern to institutions, markets, policy and conflict of interest have received considerably less attention.This thesis consists of five scientific articles that have been synthesized. The overall aim of the thesis is to examine the institutional conditions for the implementation and emergence of landfill mining. This is addressed by three research questions. The first question concerns how policies come into play in a landfill mining operation and its consequences for the implementation and emergence of landfill mining. The second question is devoted to understanding these policies and why they look the way they do. Based on how policy influences landfill mining operators and how these policies can be understood, the third question seeks to formulate some overall institutional challenges for the emergence of landfill mining, and how the authorities' capacity to address the institutional challenges may increase.The result shows that current policy makes it difficult for landfill mining operators to find a market outlet for the exhumed material, which means that landfill mining may result in a waste disposal problem. Regulations also restrict accessibility to the material in landfills. Therefore, it has generally been municipal landfill owners that perform landfill mining operations, which directs learning processes towards solving landfill problems rather than resource recovery. Landfill mining is not, however, necessarily to be perceived as a recycling activity. It could also be understood as a remediation or mining activity. This would result in more favorable institutional conditions for landfill mining in terms of better access to the market and the material in the landfill.The regulatory framework surrounding landfills is based on a perception of landfills as a source of pollution, a problem that should be avoided, capped and closed. Extracting resources from landfills, challenges this perception and therefore results in a mismatch with the regulatory framework. On the other hand, the material in mines is typically regarded in the formal institutions as a positive occurrence. Mining activities are regarded as the backbone of the Swedish economy and therefore receive various forms of political support. This favorable regulatory framework is not available for secondary resource production. Based on the identified institutional conditions, institutional challenges are id...

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Section: Landfill Mining As a Social-technical Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Resource Potential Of Landfillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Landfill Mining and The Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Alternative Regulatory Framings Of Landfill Miningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Other Side Of the Mineral Coinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landfill Mining : Institutional challenges for the implementation of resource extraction from waste deposits

Johansson¹

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Potential pollution risks of historic landfills in England: Further analysis of climate change impacts

Brand,

Spencer

2023

WIREs Water

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Five years ago, an article in WIREs Water provided the first comprehensive analysis of historic (legacy) landfill sites vulnerable to coastal flooding and erosion at a national scale (England). This update expands upon that article by considering the potential impacts of climate change upon inland historic landfills. Globally, there are hundreds of thousands of landfills that predate modern environmental regulations, and where waste is not isolated from the surrounding environment, but climate change impacts on the pollution risk from historic landfills in freshwater environments has received little attention. Where climate change causes an increase in the frequency and magnitude of fluvial flood events, this will increase leachate generation and the probability of landfill erosion and solid waste release. Where there is increased drought the landfill capping materials may crack, opening up new pollutant pathways, and increasing the risk of solid waste release. Changes to groundwater movement resulting from climate change may open new leachate pathways, and in England alone, thousands of historic landfills are in (groundwater) Source Protection Zones where modern regulations to protect drinking water supplies would not permit their construction. This increased contaminant release from historic landfills in freshwater environments may impact surface and/or groundwater quality and ecological health, increase costs for drinking water monitoring/treatment, or make some abstraction sources unviable. This is especially of concern where receptors are subject to multiple pressures and may cause tipping points to be reached. Further research is warranted into contaminant behavior, receptor vulnerability, historic landfill risk prioritization, and mitigation/remediation methods.This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Engineering Water Science of Water > Water Quality Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change Water and Life > Stresses and Pressures on Ecosystems

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The Environmental Pressure by Open Dumpsites and Way Forward

Koliyabandara,

Preethika,

Cooray

et al. 2024

Springer Water

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Framework for the evaluation of anthropogenic resources: A landfill mining case study – Resource or reserve?

Cited by 61 publications

References 17 publications

Landfill Mining : Institutional challenges for the implementation of resource extraction from waste deposits

Landfill Mining : Institutional challenges for the implementation of resource extraction from waste deposits

Potential pollution risks of historic landfills in England: Further analysis of climate change impacts

The Environmental Pressure by Open Dumpsites and Way Forward

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