At the transfer station, waste is off-loaded from local collection routes and in some cases sorted according to type. The waste is then loaded onto larger trucks or rail cars for transport to either a municipal waste treatment or disposal facility. Disposal Disposal is the placement of waste into or on the land. Disposal facilities are usually designed to permanently contain the waste and prevent the release of harmful pollutants to the environment. The most common disposal technology used for both municipal and hazardous waste is landfilling.
Landfills are waste management structures where waste is placed into the land.
Both municipal and hazardous waste landfills usually have liner systems and leachate collection systems to prevent contamination of the ground water under the landfill. Groundwater monitoring is also generally required along with corrective action if releases of hazardous pollutants occur. Once the landfills stop receiving waste they are required to close by putting an impermeable cover on the landfill to prevent rainwater from entering. Specific management standards for municipal waste landfills are found in 40 CFR 258 . They can be viewed and printed using an Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free from Adobe .