While the preceding appendices have focused on the thermochemical approaches to managing municipal solid waste (MSW), this appendix and those that follow on composting and anaerobic digestion address more of the bioconversion process technologies. Landfilling is the historical baseline MSW management option central to every community`s solid waste management plan. It generally encompasses shredfills, balefills, landfill gas recovery, and landfill mining. While landfilling is virtually universal in use, it continues to undergo intense scrutiny by the public and regulators alike. Most recently, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final rule on criteria for designing, operating, monitoring, and closing municipal solid waste landfills. While the Federal government has established nationwide standards and will assist the States in planning and developing their own practices, the States and local governments will carry out the actual planning and direct implementation. The States will also be authorized to devise programs to deal with their specific conditions and needs. While the main body of this appendix and corresponding research was originally prepared in July of 1991, references to the new RCRA Subtitle D, Part 258 EPA regulations have been included in this resubmission (908). By virtue of timing, this appendix is, necessarily, a ``transition`` document, combining basic landfill design and operation information as well as reference to new regulatory requirements. Given the speed with which landfill practices are and will be changing, the reader is encouraged to refer to Part 258 for additional details. As States set additional requirements and schedules and owners and operators of MSW landfills seek to comply, additional guidance and technical information, including case studies, will likely become available in the literature.
