Operating your landfill site

Introduction

Landfill sites and the waste sent to them are tightly regulated by environmental legislation. This sets out the standards that operators must meet to prevent pollution, for example to stop chemicals (leachate) leaking into surrounding land or water. You must ensure that certain wastes are not sent to landfill and that specific criteria and procedures are met before waste is landfilled.

You must have an environmental permit to operate a landfill site. This will control your environmental impact through conditions that you must comply with.

This guide provides information on waste that cannot be landfilled and how waste is accepted at landfills, including waste acceptance criteria and procedures. It also covers key issues relating to environmental permits, dealing with problematic waste streams, how the Landfill Tax affects landfill operators and designing and monitoring landfill facilities.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Environmental permits for landfill sites
• Wastes you cannot landfill
• Waste acceptance at landfills
• Applying for wastes to be classed as problematic
• Designing and monitoring landfills
• Landfill Tax
• Closed landfill sites