Landfills, commonly known as dumpsters, receive and store the wastes that society develops.  They are specially engineered in an attempt to minimize the damaging effects of excess wastes, which are produced by today’s modern societies.  The decomposition of these wastes create gases, including methane, and secrete fowl smells that disturb neighboring people.  Landfills are composed of three major systems to prevent contamination to the environment.  There is a liner system, leachate collection system, and cover system. 

-The plastic liner separates the garbage in the landfill from the surrounding environment.  The liner system is in place to prevent leachate from reaching ground water.  The liner is a plastic layer that covers the entire bottom and sidewalls of the landfill.  

-The leachate collection system is a piping system running underneath the landfill.  Leachate is garbage juice, which is composed of rainwater mixing with the waste inside of the landfill.  Leachate goes through a granular drainage layer before reaching the collection pipe.  

-The collection pipe collects leachate above the liner to minimize the pressure on the lining system.  After the leachate is collected at the bottom of the landfill it is then transferred to a treatment plant.  The cover system is another physical separation between the waste and the environment.  The cover is another plastic linear layer and a layer of soil covering the waste.  The cover system minimizes rainwater from infiltrating to waste.  Gas migration to the atmosphere is also minimized by the cover system.  

Figure 1.0 below shows the anatomy of a Landfill.