Waste Containment Applications

Safe containment in waste applications requires the construction of systems involving numerous geosynthetic products, specialists, and different actions in the short, medium and long term.

There is no turning back. Once the solution is built, in most cases it is not possible to correct or repair a deficiency because it is inaccessible by tons of waste. You can never return the environment to its original state, just try to mitigate the effects of pollution.


Designing the solution with geosynthetics

Proper assessment of needs, actions and risks leads to the appropriate choice of a combination of geosynthetics that will perform different functions:

  • Primary impermeable barriers
  • Secondary waterproof barriers
  • Anti-puncture protection elements
  • Leachate, rain or gas drainage elements

Products are continuously being developed that increasingly efficiently satisfy each of these functions, installation procedures are modified to include new techniques, and construction details are adjusted based on the behaviors observed over many experiences in order to increase safety coefficients.

Being at the forefront is not a choice, but an obligation, and can only be achieved with a highly qualified technical team.

It is important to know the solutions and materials that have been used in the last 40 years, as well as the latest advances, to know how to advise and use in each case the most appropriate technologies.

All products and techniques have their strengths and weaknesses, just as the same results are not obtained by combining different products that at first glance may seem equivalent.

Experience is one degree, but it is not enough. It is necessary to know in depth the products, techniques and solutions to be able to adapt them to the unique characteristics of the projects.


Environmental design and construction factors

Factors to consider in the design and construction of safe containment systems in the environment and that make each project unique:

Geometry
Location
Climatology
Regulatory requirements
Time-limits for implementation

Types of solutions

There are solutions and procedures adapted to the type of project and the type of waste (hazardous, non-hazardous, inert).

Solutions to the same problem may be more than one, but only one will be the most efficient:

Discharge cups
Landfill seals
Leachate ponds
Erosion control