APPLICATION OF SUSTAINABLE SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL - EFFECT OF BENOWO

LANDFILL TRANSFORMATION FROM OPEN DUMPING TOWARDS LEACHATE QUALITY

Pirade, Februriyana1
1
Environmental Engineering Department, Civil and Planning Faculty, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh
Nopember

Jl. Raya ITS, Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111, East Java, Indonesia

fbrryana@gmail.com

Abstract

Benowo Landfill is a landfill that is located in Northwest Surabaya city. It becomes the only
operating landfill in Surabaya. In its early operation, Benowo Landfill used open dumping
system. One of the effects that arose from such system is leachate pollution. Research from
2005 to 2010 showed significant increase towards the amount of organic and inorganic Benowo
Landfill leachate. For example, COD values of Benowo Landfill leachate since 2005 until 2010
in order are 1400 mg/L, 2107 mg/L, 2450 mg/L, and 4250 mg/L. Pollution by leachate was also
found in local salt and fish ponds around Benowo Landifll. Research in 2006 and 2008 found
high contents of Pb, Cd and Sulphate in local salt and fish ponds. Moreover, the effluent of
Benowo Landfill leachate treatment plant does not meet prerequisite standards. These matters
push Surabaya City Government to carry out management transformations in Benowo Landfill.
Several important aspects that become part of that transformation is the initiation of sanitary
landfill system application and modification of Benowo Landfill leachate treatment plant.
Transformations have been done from 2010 until present day, and will continue on until 2032.
Results obtained showed a positive correlation towards the quality change in leachate produced
by Benowo Landfill. Since 2010 until 2016, organic and inorganic leachate content experience a
decline, among others, COD values from 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2016 respectively are 4250
mg/L, 2300 mg/L, 900 mg/L, and 720 mg/L. Leachate treatment plant effluent also gave positive
results by successfully fulfilling the required quality standards.

Key words: Benowo Landfill, Open Dumping, Leachate Quality, Transformation, Sustainable
Solid Waste Disposal

1. Introduction:
An open dumping is defined as a land aquatic environments, including both
disposal site, where solid waste is discarded groundwater and surface water (Abu-Rukah &
in uncontrolled manner (Visvanathan et al., Al-Kofahi,2001). Open dumping has no
2004). In developing countries like Indonesia, proper cover system, leachate collection, and
open dumping sites still remain a choice for gas collection. Due to its unsustainable
many cities due to its low cost (Kaosol, 2009). disposal system, Benowo landfill produces
Benowo Landfill, located in Surabaya, East 40.000.000 tons of greenhouse gas a year
Java is considered as one of the biggest from its disposal activity (Status Lingkungan
landfill in Indonesia. In its early age, Benowo Hidup Indonesia [SLHI] (Indonesian
Landfill used open dumping for disposal Environmental Status), 2007). Based on
system. However, there has been a concern those considerations, Government of
that open dumps will pollute surrounding Surabaya conducts gradual developments to
actualize a sustainable waste management in
Surabaya waste disposal system.
This urge from the Government of
Surabaya is also supported by the Republic of
Indonesian Law No.18 Year 2008, about
Waste Management in which one of the
mandates from that Law is the transformation
of final processing system. Open dumping
system can no longer be used, but the very
least, sanitary landfill system or other more
modern and environmentally friendly
technologies can be applied.
Gradual transformation of Benowo
landfill begins by improving the open dumping
system into a controlled landfill system
performs leachate recirculation followed by
building sanitary landfill construction in 2012-
2015. Sanitary landfill system, LFG Power
Plant and Thermal Process (Gasification) will
operate gradually from 2015 to 2032 (Benowo
Landfill Master Plan, 2011). This
transformation of Benowo Landfill also affects
leachate quality and greenhouse gases
production produced by the landfill. Due to
those affects, analysis must be conducted to
understand the effectiveness of the
transformation and development done. This
essay will discuss those effects by utilizing
research literature and studies that have been
done in ITS Department of Environmental
Engineering. Thus is obtained data about the
correlation between effects of waste
sustainable management in Benowo Landfill
and leachate production, which can be used
as further consideration in Benowo Landfill
management.
2. Background
Benowo Landfill is located in northwest
Surabaya, East Java. It was established in
2001 and was considered as a relatively
mature landfill. It covers an area of 34 Ha and
receives 1200 Ton of municipal solid waste
per day. In its early operation, Benowo
Landfill used open dumping system. Whereas
the type of landfill ought to be used is sanitary
landfill. In the past, sanitary landfills were
used to denote a landfill where waste placed
in the landfill was covered at the end of each
days operation. Today, sanitary landfill refers
to an engineered facility for the disposal of
municipal solid waste (MSW) and operates to
minimize public health and environmental
impact (Tchobanoglous, Thiesen, & Virgil,
1993). Direct landfilling of such waste creates
the nuisance owing to the generation of highly
concentrated leachate, methane gas
emission, and extreme waste settlement in
landfill (Kaosol, 2009). Those issues about
leachate production and greenhouse gases
emission also become a main problem in
Benowo Landfill.
Leachate is wastewater produced from
accumulation of solid waste in landfills.
Leachate is formed from the process of
rainwater percolation and humidity that occurs
in every layer of waste in landfills. (Koshy et
al., 2007). Leachate contains water, heavy
metals, organic matter resulting from
decomposition, and inorganic matter such as
ammonia, sulphate, and metal cations. The
chemical composition of leachate depends on
many factors such as the initial composition of
solid wastes, the hydrology of the site, the
climate, location of the site, and the age of tip
(Al-Yaqout, 2003). There is no leachate
management in open dumping systems,
which results in groundwater pollution due to
leachate seepage into groundwater around
the landfill location.
At fifteen years of age, Benowo Landfill
can be categorized as a mature landfill.
According to the research done by ITS
Environmental Engineering Department from
2008 through 2012, the quality of leachate in
Benowo Landfill has a range as follows: BOD5
900-6000 mg/L, COD 2000-6000 mg/L, TS
16000-17000 mg/L, and salinity 3500-20500
mg/L.
3. Materials and Methods
Study about the effects of Benowo Landfill
transformation is conducted by analyzing the
quality of leachate. Leachate quality is
monitored from 2008 to 2016 using literature
studies from research conducted by ITS
Environmental Engineering Department.
Leachate quality data used include BOD5 and
COD values, nutrient content (N and P), and
salinity value. The overall data will be
correlated with the improvement and
development activities of Benowo Landfill so
that the effectiveness and correlation of said
development can be concluded.
4. Results and Discussion
a. Benowo Disposal Management
Transformation
In its early operation, Benowo Landfill still
uses open dumping system. Waste disposal
is done by piling up garbage without closure.
Waste coming from all over Surabaya enters
the reception terminal and later compressed.
That waste is then piled up to four meters into
an available cell area. This disposal system
causes the reduced lifespan of Benowo
Landfill. In 2009 it was predicted Benowo
Landfill would only survive until 2015.
Continuous accumulation of waste
causes seepage of leachate to spread to
areas around the landfill. In its early operation
in the 2000s, Benowo Landfill leachate is
collected in a leachate pool and then
chemically treated by a conventional
technology that is coagulation-flocculation
sedimentation, filter, and absorption by GAC.
However, this process is considered
unfavorable because plenty of leachate still
pollute areas around Benowo Landfill. Around
Benowo Landfill, many fish, shrimp and salt
ponds exist. Research done by
Kristiyaningsih and Sudarmaji (2008) show
that local salt ponds which exist within 800
meter radius north of the landfill has an
average Lead (Pb) content of 10.08 mg/kg in
their salt. Meanwhile, in areas closer to the
landfill within a radius of 100 meters to the
north and west, an average Pb content of
12.2mg/kg and 11.32mg/kg in salts yielded
from local ponds was found. For further
distances of 1.5 km to the north and west, Pb
content in salt reached 6.98 mg/kg and 6.58
mg/kg. Proviso of the maximum value of Pb
metal contamination in raw salt is 10 mg/kg
(SNI 01-4435-2000). Besides that, research
done by Handoko (2006) showed that (a) high
content of sulphate in three point locations in
pond area around Benowo Landfill is found,
with levels 2275,57 mg/L; (b) occurred levels
of Cd in fishes taken from ponds closest to
Benowo Landfill. In the local community,
clinical symptoms of Cu, Pb and Cd poisoning
was also discovered, among them nausea,
headache, back pain, hypertension and lack
of appetite, experienced for almost three
months (Paramitha and Surdarmaji, 2008).
This condition requires the need of Benowo
Landfill management that is better and
sustainable to minimalize wider pollution due
to leachate.
To realize sustainable change in
waste management, around 2010 Benowo
Landfill started to cover up the interlayer soil.
Each waste piled up is layered by a soil cover
30-50 cm thick. But, this coverage is done
every 3-4 weeks and does not include final
soil coverage. Furthermore, leachate
circulation is also done to decrease organic
leachate content of Benowo Landfill.
Leachate treatment plant that early on only
uses chemical process, is modified into three
processes which are chemical-physical,
biological, and a combination of both. In this
new installation system, the first stage uses
equalization pond, anaerobic filter and
maturation pond, and then enters the stage
two, constituting coagulation and flocculation.
Then, third stage of processing uses an
Anaerobic Bio Reactor, aeration pond,
sedimentation pond, sand filter, and activated
carbon filter. The processing capacity of
Benowo Landfill Leachate Treatment Plant in
2010 was 300 m3. Then in October 2012,
enhancements and improvements of Benowo
Leachate Treatment Plant were done, so that
its processing capacity became 600 m3/day.
Moreover, in the years 2012 through 2015,
improvements of infrastructure and supporting
infrastructure in Benowo Landfill location were
done, among them the repair of drainage
channel, improvement of landfill retainer,
improvement leachate trapping channels,
construction of reprofiling to prevent landslide,
repair and construction of new sanitary landfill
system, construction of Landfill Gas (LFG)
collection system, and construction of power
plant installation. Based on the data from
Benowo Landfill supervision reports of July
2016, it is known that Benowo Landfill
produces an average of 37.967 kWh a day,
and the total energy sent to the State
Electricity Company was 1,176.978 kWh on
July 2016.
 Modernization done by Benowo Landfill
made Benowo Landfill the highest point
contributor in the success of Surabaya
recieving Adipura Kencana (highest award to
a city that succeeded in environmental
management and urban hygiene) in 2014. In
April 2016, Benowo Landfill became a
national pilot on Waste Processing into
Electrical Energy.
To continuously sustain the waste
disposal management system, through the
years 2015-2032 Benowo Landfill will add
new facilities such as: construction of
preconditioning waste facility, construction of
Gasification Power Plant installation to realize
the concept of Waste to Entergy and
Sustainable Solid Waste Disposal
Management in Benowo Landfill (Master Plan
Benowo Landfill, 2011).
b. Characteristics of Leachate
Landfill leachate has varying composition
and strength of organic and inorganic
constituent. Typically, leachate is classified in
terms of landfill age as young, intermediate,
and mature (Foo and Hameed, 2009). The
results obtained in this study are shown in
Tables 1. From data collected from 2008
through 2016. From this data, BOD and COD
values of leachate is still relatively high. This
depicts the plentiful undegraded organic
pollutant, with average values of BOD/COD
0.5mg/L. According to Kalcikova et al. (2016),
BOD/COD ranging between 0.1 and 0.5 show
that leachate exists in the intermediate period.
In this period some of the biodegradable
organics are decomposed in the stabilization
process within the body of the landfill.
However, considering the age of Benowo
Landfill has reached 15 years, leachate
period should have reached the mature phase
where most organic constituent have been
degraded. In this phase, the BOD/COD value
should be <0.1 (Batarseh et al., 2010). The
presence of biodegradable organics is
probably caused by continuous disposal of
municipal waste without proper handling in
the site (Kalcikova et al., 2011). Meanwhile,
according to Boduc (2002), salinity value of
Benowo Landfill leachate occurs in the
mesohaline category (moderately
salty/brackish). This is caused by the location
of Benowo Landfill that exists in coastal areas
experience intrusion of sea water.
c. Effects of changes in the management to
the quality of leachate
Overall data was taken from leachate
pond inlet channel, which did not experience
any sort of processing. From this data it is
known that BOD and COD values decrease
from 2010 through 2012. In that year span,
leachate recirculation is done in Benowo
Landfill. Leachate recirculation is able to
speed up waste degradation process.
(Loncnar et al., 2010) and decrease organic
concentration (Warith, 2003). Thus, if
compared with data before 2010 when
leachate recirculation was not done, organic
concentrations were much higher.
Furthermore processing system modified by
combination of chemical-physical and
biological processes is also able to decrease
organic constituent values. In 2016 COD and
BOD values of Benowo Landifll leachate
continue to experience reduction.
Effects of leachate management quality
improvement also improves the effluent
quality of Benowo Landfill Leachate
Treatment Plant, see table 2. As explained in
this essay, in 2010 processing system
modification was done by combining
chemical-physical and bilogcal system in
Benowo Landfill Leachate Treatment Plant. In
old processes using chemical-physical
process, leachate processing was not
effective. Even though the organic removal
percentage reaches 85%, the effluent had not
met the water body quality standard Class 3
according to Regulation of the Minister of
Environment of Indonesia No. 82 of 2001.
However with modification of processing
method by adding a biological unit, the
organic matter degradation efficiency can be
increased up to 95% and fulfill the quality
standard. This shows that transformation
done in Benowo Landfill management bring
significant improvement towards the quality of
Benowo Lanfill leachate
5. Conclusion environmental engineer discipline. Many
Benowo Landfill became the only final thanks for Mrs. I.D.A.A Warmadewanthi as
processing site in Surabaya. Operating Head of Environmental Engineering
system that used open dumping method in Department for the courage and advice during
the beginning started to be repaired and the writing process and for providing the
improved to become a processing system that research data that required in this essay.
is sustainable and environmentally friendly. In
its development, Benowo Landfill leachate 7. Reference
became one of the most crucial issues
because it polluted areas around Benowo
Landfill. Main source of pollution came from
overflow of waste pile up that causes leachate
to seep into local ponds. Transformation of
Benowo Landfill management system that
has been done since 2010 until now showed
significant results when reviewed from quality
of leachate produced. Benowo Landfill
leachate that still exists in the intermediate
period starts to decrease in organic and
inorganic content. Improvement of leachate
treatment plant also provided significant
effects toward leachate that will be discarded
to water bodies, where the effluent meet the
threshold value. Therefore, it can be said that
Benowo Landfill process transformation
towards sustainable management became an
important factor that affects leachate quality
of Benowo Landfill. Effects towards local
society and environment around Benowo
Landfill need to be examined futher, to
observe pollution effects. Examinations can
be done by biomonitoring tests on fish,
shrimp, salt ponds. Test results will be
compared with similar results towards fish,
shrimp and salt ponds from years 2001
through 2010. Thus, the influence of Benowo
Landfill transformation can be studied further
and become one of the evaluations in the
success of management transformation in
Benowo Landfill. In the future, a prediction
analysis of leachate quality is also needed, if
sanitary landfill system has been fully applied
and a prediction of pollutants if gasification
system is applied.

6. Acknowledgment
This essay is part of Environmental
Engineering Department program that
encourage undergraduate student to take part
and participating in event that will develop
student ability and knowledge about
8. Illustrations and Tables
Tabel 1. Benowo Landfill Leachate Quality from years
Year
Parameter Unit
2005a 2008 b 2009 c 2010 d 2011 e 2012f 2016g
BOD5 mg/L 1.400 2.107 2.450 4.250 2.300 900 720
COD mg/L 3.360 4.219 5.440 6.640 4.160 2.000 1.360
3-
PO4 mg/L N/A N/A N/A N/A 28,7 2,88 N/A
NH4+-N mg/L N/A N/A N/A N/A 650 1204.76 N/A
Salinity mg/L 24.200 5.200 6400 20.500 68.000 35.000 N/A
pH - 8,2 8,45 8,45 7,54 8,12 N/A 8.3
TS mg/L 22020 17.920 16.400 N/A N/A N/A 11.981
a: (Environemtal Engineering ITS Laboratory, 2005)
b: (Prameswari, 2008)
c: (Hayuningtyas, 2009)
d (Nurhayati, 2010)
e: (Ristanto, 2011)
f: (Azizah, 2012)
g:(Benowo Monthly Reprot, 2016)

Tabel 2. Comparison Between Inlet and Outlet of Benowo Landfill Leachate Treatment Plan after modification at
2010
2005a 2010b Treshold Value*
Parameter Unit for water body
in out %Removal in out %Removal class III
BOD5 mg/L 1.400 210 85 2.964 126 95 150
COD mg/L 3.360 500 85 5.806 240 95 300
PO43- mg/L N/A N/A - N/A N/A - -
NH4+-N mg/L N/A N/A - 1830.74 379 79 -
Salinity mg/L 24.200 15.400 36 5.300 3.500 34 -
pH - 8,2 4,6 - 8,2 7,6 - 6-9
TS mg/L 22020 13960 36 N/A N/A - 4200
a: (Environemtal Engineering ITS Laboratory, 2005)
b: (Environemtal Engineering ITS Laboratory, 2010)