Phase relations and physical indicators of municipal waste from old landfills in Serbia

Due to certain similarities of municipal waste and soil, usually for the determination of basic parameters of physical state, laboratory and field tests which are common in geotechnical investigations are used. It is often to construct an apparatus for special purpose to perform some specific laboratory and field tests. Therefore, different values of indicators of municipal waste physical state can be found in the literature. The basic reasons should be found in different definitions and methods that researchers use during their determinations, which further complicate a comparison of obtained results. Unlike soil, determination of physical parameters of municipal waste is more complex, because of its extremely heterogeneous composition, consistency, biodegradability etc. In addition, physical properties of waste change over time, so the method of taking and selection of representative samples is problematic and has not yet been standardized. In this paper, the most common determination methods of basic parameters of municipal waste physical condition will be presented (moisture content, organic substances content, unit weight, specific gravity, porosity, grain size distribution), using standard geomechanical laboratory equipment. In addition, average values of these parameters based on literature data, as well as results obtained by testing the old municipal waste from two landfills in Serbia (closed landfill Ada Huja in Belgrade and city landfill in Novi Sad) will be presented.