The main policy aims to achieve sustainable waste management, that have been established in recent years across the whole of the European Union and many other nations are as follows:

*To significantly reduce the amount of waste that society produces

*To make best use of products (re-use where possible)

*To select waste management practices that minimise the risks of immediate and future environmental pollution and harm to human health.

*Over the past ten years the actions needed for the waste industry and individuals to follow, and which are most sustainable have been defined by the policy makers in national Governments.

A waste disposal method for making the choice between waste treatment and disposal options (which puts dumping waste at landfill sites at the bottom of the list of possible waste disposal routes) has been provided through the EU, for use by everyone. It is known as the waste disposal hierarchy.

Landfill does play a role in this strategy by mopping up the residual waste after all pre-treatment of waste has already removed as much of the reusable materials as possible, but it is a continually reducing one, and consensus among waste professionals still remains tenuously established at best.

Sustainable Landfill

Flushing bioreactor landfills have been put forward as the only way to achieve sustainable landfills but very real technical problems exist in developing these, not least obtaining enough fresh clean water for the necessary flushing of the waste products.

However, there is a general consensus on the objectives of sustainable landfill and how it can be achieved. Although still in the early stages some of the following guideline for landfill management will be adopted in the coming years:

The waste contained in the landfill site must be managed so that outputs are released to the environment in a controlled and acceptable way. The residues left in the landfill site should not pose an unacceptable risk to the environment, and the need for aftercare and monitoring should not be passed on to the next generation.

Future use of groundwater and other resources should not be compromised by contamination from the landfill waste.

The most interesting point here though is it could be suggested that slow leakage to the environment can be better than a total containment if slow improvement and stabilisation is achieved without any irreversible harm being caused.

Sustainability of the resources available to us is the biggest challenge to mankind of our time. We have the power to make the necessary changes and if we don't the consequences will be felt for generations to come.