Solid Waste Landfills

Landfills may use ASTs or USTs to fuel equipment on-site or to store leachate. Leaks and spills from storage tank systems and releases during loading and unloading can contaminate soils, groundwater, or surface waters. Releases can also migrate to neighboring properties or enter storm or municipal sewer drains.

Exposures may include unintended air emissions from releasing methane gas at the landfill. Methane is one of the main gases produced by decomposing refuse at a solid waste landfill. It is a highly flammable gas that harms the atmosphere and ozone layers. Methane gas released from landfills may cause injury to third parties and property damage if the methane gas ignites.

Landfills use vehicles and heavy equipment in their daily operations. These types of internal combustion vehicles are powered by diesel or propane fuel, which, when burned, generate air emissions from the equipment exhaust, emitting carbon monoxide gas. Exposure to moderate and high levels of carbon monoxide over long periods has also been linked with an increased risk of heart disease.

Heavy-duty trucks unloading waste materials at landfill facilities can leak automotive fluids or fuels on the property. Pollutants such as heavy metals, solvents, fuels, oil, and grease can leach into the soil, contaminate groundwater, or be collected by rainfall, creating contaminated stormwater that can pollute storm drains and adjacent sites.

Damage to the landfill’s liner or leachate collection and treatment system could allow disposed wastes or contaminated leachate to migrate into the underlying soil resulting in soil and groundwater contamination at the site. Releases may also occur due to leachate seepage from the landfill’s surface and the migration of pollutants in stormwater. Contaminants can migrate in groundwater off-site to impact neighboring properties, or pollutants can be carried to surface waters.

Fugitive dust can be released from heavy equipment operating on roadways, earth movement for construction or covering of landfill cells, and windblown releases of dust from landfill cover soils. Excessive dust releases can lead to regulatory violations, third-party bodily injury, or property damage claims.

If unacceptable wastes are disposed of at a landfill, landfill contamination could occur. The unacceptable waste and surrounding debris may need to be uncovered, excavated, and removed from the landfill. Also, improper waste disposal at the landfill could lead to environmental liability or legal consequences for violating regulatory requirements.

Illicit abandonment of unpermitted waste could occur at the landfill. Illicit abandonment is the illegal dumping of pollutants on a property. It can become the property owner’s burden for cleanup and third-party bodily injury or property damage if law enforcement cannot locate the originator of the waste.

Some products at a landfill are flammable or combustible and may result in a fire that spreads throughout the cell of a landfill and beyond. A hostile fire at the facility could emit toxic fumes and smoke from the materials disposed of at the site or due to a mix of materials resulting from the fire. Firefighting solutions like water or foam could create contaminated run-off, resulting in environmental cleanup and tort liability.