Congo to Get Its First MSW Landfill

Strictly designed as a Municipal Solid Waste landfill, Lifoula will open its first cell in January 2017, the remaining seven cells being rendered operational in a phased approach, with the last cell scheduled to be commissioned in October 2030. With a country-wide unemployment rate of 46.10% according to the latest 2016 data from Trading Economics, Averda’s newest initiative in Congo will boost Brazzaville’s economy, as the total number of Congolese employed by Averda in its first year of operations in the country will reach almost 1,500.

The new landfill, a first of its kind not just for the Republic of Congo but for the Central African countries, will be equipped with a leachate collection and treatment system, a system for the capture and reuse of biogas released by the waste landfilled, and with a system for the collection and treatment of the surface water.

In a recent study published by “Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews”, it was argued that up to 363 PJ (1.0 PJ = 280,000,000 kWh) of electricity could be generated by landfill gas alone across the African continent by 2025, if the municipal solid waste produced by the African countries is appropriately collected, treated and disposed of.