Composition of leachate from old landfills in Denmark

The Danish counties have performed numerous investigations of old landfills. These investigations have been presented in several reports, but no comprehensive summary of the findings has been carried out. The objective of this study was to evaluate the typical composition of leachates from old smaller landfills by a comprehensive review of the investigations carried out by the counties.

In total 106 landfills were selected by criteria avoiding dilution effects. A database was constructed using a standard program. Statistical evaluations showed that the leachate concentrations in general decreased with the age of the landfill, and that the leachate concentrations were lower than found in other similar studies.