A new report issued by the Solid Waste Association of North America’s (SWANA) Applied Research Foundation (ARF) presents an update to its 2008 report, “Benchmarking the Performance and Costs of MSW Landfills,” providing current technical and operational data for landfill owners and operators in their benchmarking efforts.

The report, “Benchmarking the Performance and Costs of MSW Landfills – 2017 Update,” features new data on landfill productivity, efficiency and effectiveness after analyzing the overall performance and costs of 49 municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in both the United States and Canada.

"Using benchmarking as a way to search for best practices, innovative ideas and effective operating procedures can help landfill owners across North America identify strategies to improve facility performance and maintain superior standards,” said Jeremy O’Brien, director of applied research at SWANA, in a statement.

Findings from the report confirm the significant economies of scale that are associated with landfill operations and the importance of minimizing cover soil usage to conserve landfill airspace.

“Landfill owners and operators face a wide variety of operational challenges; this new report will help them understand how to operate more efficiently, maximize airspace and employ the appropriate numbers of personnel and equipment based on facility size,” said David Biderman, executive director and CEO of SWANA, in a statement. “With more waste expected to go to landfills in the short term as a result of China’s waste import restrictions, providing landfill owners and managers with access to accurate and meaningful data to help their facilities is more important than ever.”

The full report is currently only available to SWANA ARF subscribers. SWANA members receive free access to ARF industry reports one year after publication.