Lagudu S. Avinash’s research while affiliated with Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and other places

With the rapid urbanization in the last few decades, more than two billion tons of solid waste is generated annually. Recently, there has been a paradigm shift in the perception of managing landfills, i.e., from waste disposal to waste treatment for reuse and recovery of resources. Bioreactor landfills are capable of degrading the waste at a much faster rate in comparison to conventional dry tomb type landfills, and therefore, reduces the decomposition process to less than 10 years. This study emphasizes on the utility of end-products generated from bioreactor landfills and their conversion into potential valuable resources. The influence of addition of various moisture supplementation liquids and biosolids on the performance of bioreactor landfills have been reviewed. The landfill gas, which is composed of about 40–60% of methane, can be utilized for the generation of electricity, upgradation of landfill to renewable natural gas and for medium-Btu gas. This paper discusses the governing factors that will improve the landfill gas production. The waste management technologies have been continuously evolving and landfill mining has been realized as an optimum solution for the reduction of landfill footprint and reclamation of valuable materials for revenue generation from waste. The utilization of mined residues has also been reviewed and their applications in the geotechnical field have also been discussed. The goal of the paper is to encourage the environmentalists to develop sustainable solutions and adopt policies based on Waste-to Product concept so that the impact of waste on the environment can be minimized.