correspondence

Climate change affects land-disposed waste

To the Editor — The global impacts (Fig. 1a), as highlighted by recent events indispensable functions in modern society.
of climate change are emerging, with such as slope failures in landfill2 and The main solid waste management options
estimations of a 0.5–1.0 m rise in mean tailings dams3 after extreme rainfall, debris include recycling, incineration, recovery
sea level and a 1.0–5.7 °C increase in mean accumulation after massive flooding4 and land disposal. Land disposal remains
temperature by 2100. Climate change is and rapid spreading of waste fire5. the predominant management method,
also expected to cause increased rainfall The site-specific impacts and required with land-disposed MSW accounting for
and wind speed in some regions and more improvements to design and policy are >1.5 billion tonnes of the total ~2 billion
frequent extreme events1. Disposed solid not yet clear6. tonnes of waste generated worldwide in 2016
wastes and disposal sites worldwide are Management of municipal solid waste (ref. 6). The global annual IW generated
vulnerable to these emerging phenomena (MSW) and industrial solid waste (IW) are is estimated to be up to 18 times higher
a
Global-scale impacts

2016 MSW land

disposal density
(t km–2)
No data
0–3
Reported weather-related 3–10
waste releases
10–20
Rainfall-related
MSW instabilites n = 20 20–50
50–100
Rainfall-related
IW instabilites n = 10 Observed and predicted >100
climate change impacts
Costal release of
disposed MSW n = 4 Flooding
Heavy rainfall
Heavy drought
Coastal erosion
b Heavy wind draws Wildfire
gases and suspends
Site-scale impacts particulates
Pests and pathogens
proliferate in MSW High temperature and Heavy rainfall, strong wind
Heavy rain destabilizes
heavy rainfall accelerate typhoon and hurricane
MSW and IW
MSW decay and leaching damage a site
Wildfire burns
open MSW
High temperature and
heavy rainfall accelerate
Flooding inundates MSW decay and leaching
MSW and IW

MSW dumpsites IW landfills,

and landfills ponds and piles

High temperature accelerates

cover and liner aging and
diffusion of contaminants

Sea level rise deteriorates

soil foundation, embankment
and liner
Sea level rise leaches
unprotected MSW and IW

Temperature related Sea level related Rain and wind related Rare event related

Fig. 1 | The impacts of climate change on solid waste and disposal sites. a, Global-scale MSW disposal density (population density17 × annual MSW disposal
per capita6) in 2016 overlaid with observed and predicted climate change impacts1,18 and reported weather-related waste releases with known locations3,8,11,13–15
(base map generated by Generic Mapping Tools ([Link] b, Site-scale climate change impacts on MSW and IW and the
corresponding infrastructure.

1004 Nature Climate Change | VOL 11 | December 2021 | 1004–1005 | [Link]/natureclimatechange

 correspondence

than the MSW6, although the amount of and extent of the affected processes and Centre, Nanyang Environment and Water Research
land-disposed IW is uncertain. Given the their environmental impacts have not Institute, Singapore, Singapore.
long history of waste disposal, hundreds of been assessed in a global context. Rising ✉e-mail: xcfei@[Link]
billions to trillions of tonnes of MSW and temperature accelerates MSW degradation
IW have been disposed in the environment. and potentially makes the default Published online: 15 November 2021
Due to the finite capacity and regionality of degradation rates of the commonly used [Link]
each site, >100,000 sites exist in Europe7; model12 inaccurate. Miscalculation of MSW
References
the total number of waste disposal sites degradation delays the installation of gas 1. IPCC Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis
worldwide is probably 300,000–500,000. collection systems at MSW sites, resulting (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. P. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press,
There is a wide variety of solid wastes in the release of greenhouse gasses to the in the press).
2. Li, C. Luoyang, Henan Province: Heavy rains displaced the
(biodegradable, leachable, suspendable atmosphere10. Excess moisture combined landfill, firefighters dredged and sanitized in 10 hours. China
and inert) and disposal sites (mismanaged with improper design and poor maintenance News Service (23 July 2021); [Link]
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and piles), all of which have complex instability and may lead to catastrophic H. G. J. Hazard. Mater. 152, 846–852 (2008).
responses to climate change. landslides. More than 20 such landslides 4. Brady, K. Germany floods: The challenge of waste disposal.
Climate change impacts the infrastructure have been reported worldwide, with Deutsche Welle (28 July 2021); [Link]
germany-floods-the-challenge-of-waste-disposal/a-58676563
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(EURELCO, 2018); [Link]
order of 100 years, but the stresses of climate waste leaching, and sea level rise elevates data-launched-on-the-landfill-situation-in-the-eu-28
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2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
with a long waste disposal history (Fig. 1a). facilitates gas advection from buried waste (IGES, 2006).
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England), releasing leachate and solid waste embers, hazardous gas, and particulates. From Practical Experiences (International Commission on Large
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16. Neuhold, C. Nat. Hazards 68, 1425–1440 (2013).
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failing of covers and liners9, and methane potentially undermining the health of site R. et al.) (in the press).
leakage through cracked MSW site covers workers and surrounding residents.
is a significant global anthropogenic source Given the tremendous amount of waste Acknowledgements
of greenhouse gas emissions10. Moreover, and the global distribution of sites, the The authors acknowledge Nanyang Technological
diffusion of contaminants through liners impacts of climate change on solid waste need University (NTU, Singapore), the Nanyang Environment
is accelerated at elevated temperature9. improved understanding and site-specific and Water Research Institute (Singapore) and the
Economic Development Board (Singapore) for providing
Heavy rainfall, strong winds, typhoons assessments. Resilient design, maintenance financial support for this research. X.F. acknowledges
and hurricanes damage site infrastructure and risk mitigation of sites should be pursued support from the Debris of the Anthropocene to Resources
and displace the contained leachate and in response to climate change, with a unified (DotA2) Lab at NTU.
solid waste to the environment11. Meanwhile, framework to bridge engineering practices
debris from natural and man-made and policy guidelines. ❐ Author contributions
disasters generated from municipal and X.F. conceptualized the correspondence. X.F., M.F. and
industry sectors needs additional space Xunchang Fei   1,2 ✉, Mingliang Fang1,2 Y.W. collected, analysed and illustrated available data.
The manuscript was written by X.F., with revisions from
for land disposal. and Yao Wang   1,2 all authors.
In addition to infrastructure, climate 1
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
change also affects many processes Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Competing interests
occurring in waste, but the occurrence Singapore. 2Residues and Resource Reclamation The authors declare no competing interests.

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