Project Summary

Solid Waste Management

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR THE UPGRADE OF THE EXISTING SANITARY LANDFILL OF MUNICIPALITY OF LAMIA, PREFECTURE OF FTHIOTIDA

Client:  Municipality of Lamia, Prefecture of Fthiotida
Year:   2001

ISSUE
The purpose of the project was the approval of the Environmental Permit for the upgrade of the existing sanitary landfill of Municipality of Lamia, through appropriate actions, considering that the Municipality is planning to expand the sanitary landfill to an adjacent available area.

SOLUTION                                                                      Upgrade of Existing Sanitary Landfill
The existing sanitary landfill, which began to operate in 1991, is located northeast of the City of Lamia and specifically at the 2nd km of the roadway connecting Lamia and Stylida, in the location “Nevropoli” of Community of Agia Paraskevi and serves the Municipality of Lamia with a total population of 80.000 inhabitants.

The existing sanitary landfill has buildings (outpost entry, weighbridge, recycle center, etc), internal access roads and stormwater collection network.

The upgrade of the existing sanitary landfill involves splitting of the available site in two sections :

• Section A in the southeast sector of the existing sanitary landfill covering an area of 37.000m2;
• Section B in the northwest sector of the existing sanitary landfill covering an area of 20.000m2; the solid waste is transported for disposal from the site B to the site A;

Specifically the project included:

• formation of the final grade: the final grade is formed by placing solid waste in an area of 3.7 hectares as well as works of final coverage (overlap) of deposited layers with suitable soil and insulation materials
• redevelopment of the final grade: planting the final grade with suitable species of vegetation (shrubs, grass) and mild architectural construction projects
• flood protection: construction of a stormwater ditch to drain the surface runoff and prevent its flow through the landfill
• biogas management: construction of a biogas recovery network using the vertical pumping well method (total length of 1.140m and pipeline diameter of 160mm) and transportation of the produced gas to the flare site through a pipeline with diameter of 180mm and total length of 1.080m
• leachate management: The leachate is collected through perimetric ditches and a system of  wells in appropriate locations for pumping the leachate through the deposits body. The collected leachate is pumped into an existing tank and then it is transported to the leachate treatment plant, which consists of:
• aerated lagoons
• natural separation processing of the suspended solids in a sedimentation tank
• wetland for final processing
• disposal of treated leachate                                              
• monitoring and control: construction of a monitoring and control wells network for sampling and chemical analysis in order to prevent any risk of gases or liquids escape from the disposal site and for monitoring the progress of the biodegradation process

The project identified all the exact deposit locations. In addition, the existing natural and human environmental condition was investigated. Further, information on the feasibility of the project was given, followed by a detailed technical description of the project.

Finally, the extent and magnitude of the environmental impact from the construction and operation of the project as well as the mitigation of the environmental impacts were described and alternative solutions were examined.

BENEFIT
The project was submitted to the responsible environmental public authority for the approval of the Environmental Permit. The design of this project contributed to the upgrade of the existing sanitary landfill of Municipality of Lamia.