9%

Yard Trimmings - 12.9%

Food scraps - 12.4%;

Plastics - 11.7%;

Rubber, leather and textiles - 7.3%

Metals - 7.6%

Wood - 5.5%

Glass - 5.3%

The following figure shows the number of landfills in the United States between 1998 and 2006

Number of Landfills in the United States 1998-2006

Source: EPA (1997)

The work of van der Zee and de Visser entitled: "Assessing the Opportunities of Landfill Mining" states: "Long-term estimates make clear that the amount of solid waste to be processed at landfills in the Netherlands will sharply decline in coming years. Major reasons can be found in the availability of improved technologies for waste recycling and government regulations aiming at waste reduction." (nd)

The work of Sperling and Hansen entitled: "Land Reclamation at Municipal Landfill Sites" states that municipal landfill closure presents a great challenge in terms of reclamation which involves multiple objectives including: (1) isolation...
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