Worldwide, landfilling remains an important instrument of solid waste management. Sanitary landfilling includes placement of liners, gas and leachate collection and treatment systems to preclude environmental impacts. Recently, a paradigm shift has challenged the concept of impermeable liners as waste isolation eventually limits waste biodegradation and thereby conserves the landfill's emission potential. In-situ stabilisation practices such as aeration and leachate recirculation intend to enhance waste biodegradation and achieve stable conditions in a relatively short time.

Since 2020, CURE conducts fundamental research regarding the enhanced conversion of waste organic matter, the concurrent development of leachate quality, landfill response as evidenced by temperature or settlement, and predictive transport modelling for full-scale stabilisation field trials on three Dutch landfills. The research is expected to lead to methods that enable sustainable management of contaminated sites and reduce the time during which society has to actively monitor these sites.

Researching universities
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
Wageningen University & Research (WUR)
University of Southampton (U Southampton)
University of Delaware (U Delaware)

Principal investigators
TU Delft: Julia Gebert, Timo Heimovaara, Anne-Catherine Dieudonné
WUR: Rob Comans

Co-investigators
U Southampton: Richard Beaven, Tristan Rees-White, Anne Stringfellow
U Delaware: Paul Imhoff

Recent and former Postdocs
TU Delft: Susan Yi, Leonardo Duarte Campos, Nasime Janatian

Recent and former PhDs
TU Delft: Nathali Meza Ramos, Cristhian Andrade Corona, Liang Wang
WUR: Frank van Raffe, Nick Quist

Partners
Afvalzorg Holding
Attero B.V.
Hans Oonk, OonKAY! Innovations in Environmental Technology
Stichting Duurzaam Storten (SDS) with project iDS (https://duurzaamstortbeheer.nl/english-page/)

Funding
CURE is financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO),
grant # OCENW.GROOT.2019.092