Solid Waste Landfill Design

This comprehensive course covers the full lifecycle of landfill development—from site investigation and liner design to leachate treatment, gas management, and post-closure strategies. Participants will explore cutting-edge topics such as PFAS mitigation, elevated temperature landfills, and sustainability campus development, all taught by leading researchers, regulators, and industry experts. Through interactive sessions, real-world case studies, and a site tour, attendees will gain practical knowledge to lead successful landfill projects in today’s complex regulatory and environmental landscape.

• Civil, geotechnical, and geoenvironmental engineers involved in landfill design and permitting.
• Landfill owners, operators, and facility managers overseeing waste disposal and expansion projects.
• Regulatory agency staff, planners, and public works professionals responsible for solid waste infrastructure.

This course will guide you through the development process of a successful solid waste landfill, from cradle to grave. Industry experts will share critical factors and insights.  Interactive discussion and idea exchange will be emphasized. Learn more and enroll today.

A Brief History of Solid Waste Management and Design (Tinjum)

• Introduction and course goals
• Evolving contaminants, risks, and opportunities
• Evolving standards-of-practice and performance based design

Keynote: Financial Management of a Solid Waste System (Welch)

• Solid waste economics
• Evolving revenue streams and value-added processes
• Planning financial outlays and tipping fee impacts
• New technologies for metrics tracking, airspace management and analysis (compaction rates, equipment usage)
• Planning for expansion (vertical and horizontal, greenfield sites

Investigating Hydrogeologic Conditions and Groundwater Monitoring (Leier-Engelhardt)

• Designing an investigation program
• Exploration methods
• Monitoring wells and analysis of groundwater data 

Bower Source Investigation and Composite Liners (Tinjum)

• Properties of suitable liner/cover soil
• Compaction specifications and QA/QC
• Incorporating reasonable soil specifications
• Composite barrier systems and performance calculations
• Class Activity

Geometric Design and Liquid Management Systems (Daigle)

• Base grades
• Slopes and Berming
• Phasing
• Leachate collection systems (drainage sand/stone, drainage geosynthetics, base grades and toe drains)
• Geometrical design
• Leachate head calculations
• Pipe network, clean outs, pumps, and on-site storage

Elevated Temperature Landfill (Benson)

• Chemical and physical indicators
• Management 
• Order Control

Day 2 - Designing from the Bottom Up

Geosynthetic Design for Containment Systems (Benson)

• Polymers 101
• Geosynthetic types and functions
• Contaminant transport mechanisms
• Composite barrier systems and performance calculations

Leachate Treatment (Wade)

• On-site treatment systems
• Considerating for PFAS-impacted streams
• Transport and off-site treatment options

Landfill Drainage and Runoff Control (Powers)

• Runoff amounts
• Open channel flow and culverts
• Sedimentation/detention basins

Slope Stability Approach and Calculations (Tinjum)

• Failure modes, triggering mechanisms, and factors affecting landfill system stability
• Measuring and incorporating interface values
• Calculation approached and examples
• Slope stability analysis and reporting

Management of PFAS in Leachate, Liquids, and Landfill Gasses (Lawson)

• Fate and Transport in Solid Waste Management Residuals
• Liquids Management and Treatment
• Remediation Technologies and Treatment
• Life-Cycle and Economic Assessment

Day 3 Evolving topics in Landfill Gas Operations, Management, and Regulatory Oversite (Tinjum)

• Historical perspectives, Contain-Collect-Control
• Evolving standard-of-practice
• Risks and Opportunities

Gas Collection and Managing Air Emissions (Daigle)

• Sources of landfill air emissions
• Managing landfill gas emissions
• Landfill gas generation, extraction, and collection systems

Developing a Viable Sustainability Campus and Circular Landfill (Wienkes)

• Life-Cycle Systems
• Developing a Sustainability Campus
• Opportunities to Improve the Sustainability of Waste Management

Tour of Dane County Landfill (Welch/Wienkes)

• Sustainability campus
• Gas to energy system tour
• BioCNG system tour
• Interim cover system and gas management
• UAV LFG flight demonstration
• LFG continuous stationary sensor

"Wasn’t expecting this much pertinent information as a geologist and was pleasantly surprised."
—T.J. Daniel, Bunnell-Lammons Engineering

"Great information, networking, and references. Too often, binders/slide handouts are useless once back in the office, not the case here."
—Jason Hinds, FMG Engineering, Rapid City, SD

"(Elevated Temperature Landfills) very, very informative. Big issue with clients, so truly helpful."
—Christian Kessler, WCGRP

Craig Benson

Craig H. Benson, PE, PhD, NAE, and former Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (and emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison), has extensive expertise in the discipline referred to as geoenvironmental engineering. This discipline is at the interface of the built and natural environments and deals with issues in the subsurface or interactions between conditions at the earth’s surface and the subsurface. In most cases, the important objective is to protect soil and ground water or to engineer systems that reduce emissions or save energy. His research in geoenvironmental engineering fits in three broad classes: design and assessment of environmental containment systems for municipal, hazardous, and radioactive wastes; reuse and recycling of industrial byproducts for sustainable construction applications; and sustainability assessment of geological and civil engineering systems.

C. Lee Daigle

Lee Daigle is a registered professional engineer in civil engineering with 25 years of experience in the landfill gas industry. Mr. Daigle started his career as an intern at a municipal solid waste landfill in Colonie, New York while attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. While interning, he was fully immersed in the operations, maintenance, and construction of landfill gas collection and control systems, which instilled him with a passion for the industry. Upon graduation, Mr. Daigle continued to focus on landfill gas, and expanded his expertise in landfill gas utilization feasibility assessment, design, regulatory compliance, construction, and operations. Mr. Daigle has worked on landfill gas collection systems in over 30 states/territories, three Canadian provinces, and several countries abroad. He has been responsible for the initial start-up and monitoring of collection and control systems and has performed data analysis and interpretation to assist in optimizing overall landfill gas system performance. He also performed construction management and construction quality assurance (CQA) services during the installation of numerous landfill gas extraction and treatment systems, giving him a strong understanding of the construction issues associated with the implementation of cost-effective landfill gas system designs. Since 2011, Mr. Daigle has expanded his practice into all areas of solid waste design including the design and permitting of municipal solid waste cells and closures. Recently, Mr. Daigle has been elected to the Solid Waste Association of North America's Board of Directors, Wisconsin Badger Chapter and currently serves as Vice President of the board.

Paula Leier-Engelhardt

Paula Leier-Engelhardt, P.G., C.P.G. Principal Geologist and owner of HydroGeo Solutions LLC, with over 35 years of experience as a consulting geologist, much of that time dealing with the geology and hydrogeology of landfill sites.

She has managed various projects involving landfills, soil and groundwater contamination, compliance, and site restoration for both private and government clients. She has extensive experience in the characterization of a site’s geology and hydrogeology, and development of monitoring programs that most efficiently monitor the performance of a facility based on the characteristics of the site. Her experience in the development of databases for environmental monitoring data allows facility owners to effectively manage and use this data. In addition, she manages the groundwater databases for several landfills, which includes validating and interpreting the data, and preparing statistical analyses. She has also worked on the remediation of closed landfills, in geologic environments ranging from glacial sediments to fractured bedrock.

Paula developed and has been an instructor for soil and groundwater sampling courses prepared for various clients. She has also been an instructor at a UW -Extension training course for landfill operators and facility managers and has been an instructor at the UW-Madison College of Engineering Solid Waste Design short course for 22 years.

Betsy Powers

Betsy Powers PE  is a civil and environmental engineer with more than 25 years of consulting experience. She has extensive experience in the design, permitting, and construction of municipal and industrial solid waste landfills. Her expertise includes site design, layout, and permitting; storm water management; and construction oversight and documentation. Ms. Powers has worked on solid waste projects in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan

James Tinjum

James M. Tinjum, PE, PhD, F.ASCE, is an Associate Professor and outgoing Director of the Geological Engineering Program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Tinjum has 35 years of solid waste experience, beginning in 1990. Prior to his engagement as a faculty member at UW–Madison in 2008, he worked for 15 years in industry for prominent engineer-procure-construct firms and a Fortune 50 company. He has specialized technical knowledge in geoenvironmental and remediation engineering for landfills with industrial waste (lime kiln dust, cement kiln dust, foundry residuals, paper mill sludge, coal combustion residuals), municipal solid waste (particularly landfill liner and cover systems and the monitoring, recovery, and value-added use of landfill gases), and hazardous waste. He conducts research in waste geotechnics and waste containment systems; the beneficial reuse of industrial byproducts (e.g., for subgrade improvement and cementitious stabilization of pavement layers); life cycle environmental analysis of geo systems; remediation of contaminated sites; and fate and transport of landfill gas emissions. Dr. Tinjum developed these interests not only through industry practice and applied research, but also through discussions and interactions with practitioners participating in his nationally/internationally attended engineering short course programs. In applied practice, Dr. Tinjum has participated in nearly 100 solid waste projects. 

Amanda Wade

Amanda Wade is a Solid Waste Program Manager for TRC. She is an expert in state and federal requirements for solid waste management including landfill design, construction, and operations as well as general solid waste permitting criteria. Spanning over 24 years, she has overseen and/or designed numerous solid waste liner and closure projects ranging in complexity from rural municipal landfills to papermill landfills and ultimately to large-scale commercial facilities. She has also permitted numerous solar-on-landfill projects in Massachusetts. Amanda spent the first 15 years of her career with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) as a member of the Solid Waste Engineering Unit. Since leaving the MDEP, she has worked as a consultant, managing, and serving as the Engineer of Record for numerous solid waste facilities throughout New England. She currently serves as President for the Northern New England Chapter of SWANA and is Vice Chair of the Environmental Business Council of New England (EBC) Solid Waste Management Committee.

John Welch

John Welch, PE, Director of Waste and Renewables, Dane County, Madison, WI. John is an experienced Owner/Manager with a demonstrated history of achieving positive results in the solid waste industry. John is skilled in management and operation of landfills, HHW facilities, transfer stations, C&D MRFs, and biogas facilities. John is a licensed Professional Engineer with a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Roxanne Wienkes

Roxanne Wienkes, PE, is the Deputy Director, Dane County Department of Waste & Renewables and has a Bachelors of Civil –Environmental Engineering (University of Wisconsin –Madison). Roxanne has worked for the Dane County Department of Waste & Renewables since 2019 and leads the Department’s technical engineering, ¿nance, and administrative functions. Prior to working with Dane County, Roxanne worked for TRC Companies and the Veterans Heath Administration at the VA Hospital in Madison, WI. She has spent nearly equal parts of her career in public service as the “owner/operator” and equal parts in private sector environmental consulting , which gives her a unique perspective on solid waste facility design and operation.