{"id":513,"date":"2012-10-20T15:01:10","date_gmt":"2012-10-20T15:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/?p=513"},"modified":"2026-04-07T21:33:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:33:53","slug":"landfill-leachate-composition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/leachate-chemistry-testing\/landfill-leachate-composition\/","title":{"rendered":"Landfill Leachate Composition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sewage<\/a><\/p><\/div>

\"LandfillLandfill leachate composition<\/strong> for United Kingdom Landfills was first published in the Waste Management Papers published by the UK Department of the Environment. Waste Management Paper 26 contains the most recent table of Landfill Leachate Composition before the WMP series was superseded by later documents, notably the DoE’s Leachate Report of 1995. However, the original table, as published below, remains a good guide to leachate quality from the mixture of UK landfills, which in those days would have included a mixture of fully lined landfills and lined and progressively capped landfills, as often referred to nowadays as Sanitary Landfills.<\/p>\n

Typical [Landfill Leachate] Composition of Leachate from Domestic Wastes at Various Stages of Decomposition (all results in mg\/l except pH-value)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Determinand<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nLeachate A<\/strong><\/td>\nLeachate B<\/strong><\/td>\nLeachate C<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n(recent wastes)<\/strong><\/td>\n(aged wastes)<\/strong><\/td>\n(bioreactive wastes)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
pH-value<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n

6.2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

7.5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

8.0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

COD<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n

23 800<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1 <\/strong>160<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1 500<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

BOD5<\/sub><\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n

11 900<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

260<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

500<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

TOC<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n

8 000<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

465<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

450<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Fatty Acids<\/td>\n(as C)<\/td>\n\n

5 688<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Ammoniacal-N<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n

790<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

370<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1 000<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Oxidises -N<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n

3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1.0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

o-phosphate<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n

0.73<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1.4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1.0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Chloride<\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n

1 315<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2 080<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1 390<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Sodium<\/td>\n(Na)<\/td>\n\n

960<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1 300<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1 900<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Magnesium<\/td>\n(Mg)<\/td>\n\n

252<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

185<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

186<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Potassium<\/td>\n(Kg)<\/td>\n\n

780<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

590<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

570<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Calcium<\/td>\n(Ca)<\/td>\n\n

1 820<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

250<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

158<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Managanese<\/td>\n(Mn)<\/td>\n\n

27<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2.1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

0.05<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Iron<\/td>\n(Fe)<\/td>\n\n

540<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

23<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2.0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Nickel<\/td>\n(Ni)<\/td>\n\n

0.6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

0.1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

0.2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Copper<\/td>\n(Cu)<\/td>\n\n

0.12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

0.03<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

–<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Zinc<\/td>\n(Zn)<\/td>\n\n

21.5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

0.4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

0.5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Lead<\/td>\n(Pb)<\/td>\n\n

0.40<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

0.14<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

–<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Explanation of the leachate categories shown above:<\/p>\n

A) \u00a0Recently emplaced domestic wastes are in the active “acid-forming” stage of anaerobic decomposition, with rapid production of readily degradable organic materials such as fatty acids.<\/p>\n

B) Relatively aged wastes in latter stages of stabilisation, containing a lower proportion of biodegradable organic materials (as indicated by the low ratio of BOD: COD), but with continuing biological activity as shown by the concentration of ammoniacal nitrogen.<\/p>\n

C) Leachate from rapidly degrading domestic wastes, with active generation of\u00a0methane, in water saturated conditions. Low concentrations of volatile\u00a0fatty acids indicate efficient conversion of these to landfill gases, and\u00a0very <\/em>high concentrations of ammoniacal nitrogen show a high rate of\u00a0anaerobic biological activity with the landfill.<\/p>\n

Ref: DoE Waste Management Paper No 26<\/p>\n

Do you need expert advice on leachate composition and what it means for your landfill? If so, send us the details by completing the form on our Contact Page<\/a> describing your leachate problem, and we will respond to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Sewage<\/a><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Landfill leachate composition for United Kingdom Landfills was first published in the Waste Management Papers published by the UK Department of the Environment. Waste Management Paper 26 contains the most recent table of Landfill Leachate Composition before the WMP series was superseded by later documents, notably the DoE’s Leachate Report of 1995. However, the original […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leachate-chemistry-testing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/landfill-leachate-composition.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1075,"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions\/1075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leachate.co.uk\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}