Recycling potential of urban solid waste destined for sanitary landfills: the case of Indaiatuba, SP, Brazil

The urban solid waste of the city of Indaiatuba (pop. 175 000), located in the state of São Paulo, was characterized, focusing on the recycling potential. For this purpose, collected waste was subdivided into 27 items, classified by mass and volume. About 90% of this waste was found to be potentially recyclable and only 10% requiring landfilling. The compostable organic matter, in the form of food and garden waste, both with high moisture content (51 and 41%, respectively), represents 54% in mass and 21% in volume. The most common type of plastic in this waste is high density polyethylene, whose estimated disposal is about 5000 kg day(-1). A socio-economic analysis of the waste generation indicates that low-income neighbourhoods discard relatively less packaging and more food waste, shoes and construction debris than middle and high income ones, which may be due to low purchasing power and schooling. Our findings indicate that more aluminium and uncoloured polyethylene terephthalate is discarded in the warmest months of the year, probably due to a greater consumption of canned and bottled drinks.

Implantação de aterros sanitários: Comparação de métodos de seleção de áreas

Historically, the incorrect waste disposal has been related to epidemics which resulted in thousand of deaths. Despite the efforts to develop sanitary disposal methods in the 19 century, even today, uncontrolled dumps are often found in undeveloped countries. These places are responsible for environment pollution and for several diseases. The process of adequate waste disposal begins with the selection of suitable landfill areas, based on environmental characteristics. The goal of this research was to compare two methods of landfill site selection: the first one developed by IG-SMA (1999), and the other by Basílio (2001). Both methods were developed and applied in the same area - region of Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil and this fact explains the choice for them; the comparison was made by superposing maps. Despite the same geographic area, the result was very different and few areas in common were found; IG-SMA (1999) obtained more suitable areas than Basílio (2001). This has been attributed to scale, criteria and attribute differences and, as a conclusion, Basílio (2001) was considered more restrictive than IG-SMA (1999).

Estimativa de alguns parâmetros de transporte de contaminantes para solos Brasileiros

This paper introduces an indirect estimate for the coefficients of distribution, hydrodynamic dispersion and retardation for contaminants commonly encountered in sanitary landfills and their liners, such as Cu2+ and K+; this estimate is based on the relationship between concentration and certain physical characteristics of typical Brazilian soils. The results of previous studies investigating the migration of contaminants were used to develop mathematical expressions from multiple non-linear regressions. Using minimal squares regression, this transport was linked to various combinations of contaminant concentration and both structural and textural characteristics of the porous medium. Various combinations of characteristics and concentrations were investigated, with a mathematical expression obtained for each. The relationship between percentage of clay and the contaminant content proved to be the most closely correlated with actual transport parameters, with coefficients close to one.

Ethanol addition as a strategy for start-up and acclimation of an AnSBBR for the treatment of landfill leachate

This study evaluated the ethanol addition as a strategy for start-up and acclimation of a pilot scale (1300 L) anaerobic sequencing batch biofilm reactor (AnSBBR) for the treatment of municipal landfill leachate with seasonal biodegradability variations. The treatment was carried out at ambient temperature (23.8 ± 2.1 °C) in the landfill area. In a first attempt, the leachate collected directly from landfill showed to be predominantly recalcitrant to anaerobic treatment and the acclimation was not possible. In a second attempt, adding ethanol to leachate, the reactor was successfully acclimated. After acclimation, without ethanol addition, the CODTotal influent ranged from 4970 to 13040 mg L-1 and the removal efficiencies ranged from 12.1% to 70.7%. A final test was carried out increasing the ammonia and free-ammonia concentration from 2486 mgN L-1 and 184 mgN L-1 to 4519 mgN L-1 and 634 mgN L-1, respectively, with no expressive inhibition verified. The start-up strategy was found to be feasible, providing the acclimation of the biomass in the AnSBBR, and maintaining the biomass active even when the leachate was recalcitrant. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seleção de áreas para implantação de aterros sanitários: análise comparativa de métodos

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Proposta para indicação de áreas para a implantação de aterro sanitário no município de Bauru-SP, utilizando análise multi critério de decisão e técnicas de geoprocessamento

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Procedimentos mínimos para operação de aterros sanitários de médio porte: estudo de caso do aterro sanitário de Jales

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Civil - FEIS

Caracterização de impacto ambiental no solo em um aterro de pequeno porte

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Formulação de um índice de qualidade de gestão de resíduos sólidos urbanos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Identifying problems for choosing suitable areas for installation of a new landfill through GIS technology: A case study

Selecting a suitable place to install a new landfill is a hard work. Bauru is a Brazilian municipality where the local landfill currently in use has a life span that is almost over, and the selection of a new area for a future landfill is crucial and urgent. Here we use a geographic information system (GIS) approach to indicate possible suitable areas for installing the landfill. The considered criteria were: river network and the respective buffer zone, relief, urban areas and their respective buffer zone, existence of Areas for Environmental Protection (AEPs), occurrence of wells and their respective buffer zones, existence of airports and their buffer zones, wind direction, and the road network and its respective buffer zone. Due the facts that (1) Bauru has an urban area relatively large in relation to whole municipal area, (2) Bauru has two airports, and (3) this area encompasses parts of three AEPs, the model showed that there are few areas suitable and moderately suitable in Bauru, and the greater part of the municipality is unsuitable to install a new landfill. Due to this important finding reported here, the local policymakers should consider the suitable or even moderately suitable areas for analysis in situ or look for other creative solutions for destination of the solid waste. We highly encourage the use of GIS in studies that seek suitable areas for future landfills, having found that SIG was a tool that allowed fast and precise work and generated an outcome sufficiently clear of interpretation.Implications: Solid waste (SW) management is one of the main environmental concerns nowadays. Landfilling SW is still the main practice to disposal of such material. However, for many regions, suitable places for landfilling are getting scarce. This study proved this situation for a populous place in a southeastern Brazilian region. This study also showed how the decision makers should manage the problem in order to minimize the amount of SW generated and delivered for the landfill. Massive investment in education is a critical issue to reach the proposed aim.

Um estudo sobre aspectos da gestão dos resíduos sólidos no município de Ribeirão Preto (SP)

Since the beginning of it’s existence the humankind coexists with the production of waste, both organics and inorganics. Over the years the world population is raising, and consequently the different kinds of waste, causing significant problems not only for the public authorities, but also for the population, not only those related with its final or temporary destination but also with its crescent production. Considering it, the cities are not able to handle there volumes, and its landfills and dumps are working over their capacities, leading to a serie of environmental problems due to the lost of environmental quality and the natural and social vulnerabilities arising. This paper plans to working over visits, photographic registration and a review on the theme literature, study the perception and valuation of the landscape on the Ribeirão Preto landfill, São Paulo state (SP), that today is disabled but still an area of risk and environmental vulnerability, well as the perception of environmental quality in the surrounding population

Caracterização do lodo de esgoto, após desaguamento e secagem térmica, da Estação de Tratamento de Esgoto de Araraquara

Pós-graduação em Química - IQ

The "chemical oxygen demand/total volatile acids" ratio as an anaerobic treatability indicator for landfill leachates

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Comparative analysis between biogas flow in landfill and electrical resistivity tomography in Rio Claro city, Brazil

The biogas originated from anaerobic degradation of organic matter in landfills consists basically in CH4, CO2, and H2O. The landfills represent an important depository of organic matter with high energetic potential in Brazil, although with inexpressive use in the present. The estimation of production of the productive rate of biogas represents one of the major difficulties of technical order to the planning of capture system for rational consumption of this resource. The applied geophysics consists in a set of methods and techniques with wide use in environmental and hydrogeological studies. The DC resistivity method is largely applied in environmental diagnosis of the contamination in soil and groundwater, due to the contrast of electrical properties frequent between contaminated areas and the natural environment. This paper aims to evaluate eventual relationships between biogas flows quantified in drains located in the landfill, with characteristic patterns of electrical resistivity in depth. The drain of higher flow (117 m3 /h) in depth was characterized for values between 8000 Ω⋅m and 100.000 Ω⋅m, in contrast with values below 2000 Ω⋅m, which characterize in subsurface the drain with less flow (37 m3 /h), besides intermediary flow and electrical resistivity values, attributed to the predominance of areas with accumulation or generation of biogas.

The chemical oxygen demand / total volatile acids ratio as an anaerobic treatability indicator for landfill leachates

In some operational circumstances a fast evaluation of landfill leachate anaerobic treatability is necessary, and neither Biochemical Methane Potential nor BOD/COD ratio are fast enough. Looking for a fast indicator, this work evaluated the anaerobic treatability of landfill leachate from São Carlos-SP (Brazil) in a pilot scale Anaerobic Sequence Batch Biofilm Reactor (AnSBBR). The experiment was conducted at ambient temperature in the landfill area. After the acclimation, at a second stage of operation, the AnSBBR presented efficiency above 70%, in terms of COD removal, utilizing landfill leachate without water dilution, with an inlet COD of about 11,000 mg.L-1, a TVA/COD ratio of approximately 0.6 and reaction time equal to 7 days. To evaluate the landfill leachate biodegradability variation over time, temporal profiles of concentration were performed in the AnSBBR. The landfill leachate anaerobic biodegradability was verified to have a direct and strong relationship to the TVA/COD ratio. For a TVA/CODTotal ratio lower than 0.20, the biodegradability was considered low, for ratios between 0.20 and 0.40 it was considered medium, and above 0.40 it was considered high.