Abstract

Abstract: Thewaste generation in developing countries is going to increase due to rapidgrowth in urbanization and industrialization. In India, per person per daywaste generation is about 0.65 kg. The waste generated in India was 1.80billion tons per year and 1.75 billion tons was in Indonesia.  The problems are mainly started due to thenon-segregation of the wet and dry solid wastes, the composition of the solidwaste dumping at the landfill sites as well as poor management of the landfillsites. The composition of the solid waste, as well as the rainfall conditionsat a location, mainly determine the characteristics and composition of theleachates coming out from these landfill sites. In both countries, themanagement of the collection of the leachates from these sites affects thegroundwater and thus, is a very important aspect for minimizing the adverseeffects on groundwater quality. The management of leachates from landfill sitesis different for India and Indonesia; as in some countries specializedtechnologies and practices are adopted for their management while in others,they are poorly managed. In this paper, a comparative scenario has beenpresented regarding the groundwater contamination from the leachates from thelandfill sites located India and Indonesia. From this study, it was found thatthe unscientifically design of landfill and absence of liner allow leachate topercolate into the ground and contaminate the groundwater. The various factorsaffecting the groundwater contaminations from the leachates were also examinedand it was found that the landfill sites in both the countries were not managedeffectively. It was also revealed that the scientific disposal of the mixtureof the solid waste was also not practiced.

Keywords: Municipalsolid waste (MSW), leachate, landfill site, contamination.