CoMMenT
The long-​term fates of land-​disposed
1
School of Civil and
Environmental Engineering,
Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore,
Singapore.
2
Residues and Resource
Reclamation Centre, Nanyang
Environment and Water
Research Institute, Singapore,
Singapore.
3
Department of
Environmental Science
and Engineering, Fudan
University, Shanghai, China.
4
College of Biology and the
Environment, Nanjing Forestry
University, Nanjing, China.
5
College of Chemistry and
Environmental Engineering,
Shenzhen University,
Shenzhen, China.
✉e-​mail: xcfei@ntu.edu.sg
https://doi.org/10.1038/
s43017-022-00354-0
Nature Reviews | Earth & Environment
plastic waste
Xunchang Fei   1,2 ✉, Yuliang Guo1,2, Yao Wang   1,2, Mingliang Fang3, Ke Yin   4
and Hongping He5
The large quantities of plastics stored in landfills and dumpsites are often overlooked when
discussing plastic pollution. Improperly managed waste disposal sites can leak plastics to the
environment, requiring immediate action. Mitigation must be supported by research to quantify
the scale of the problem and prioritize efforts.
In March 2022, 175 nations at the United Nations
Environment Assembly endorsed a resolution to end
plastic pollution by reducing the generation and release
of plastic waste (PW). Despite emphasizing environ-
mentally sound waste management, this resolution is
not explicit on how existing PW should be managed.
Around 4.9 × 109 tonnes of PW have been disposed of
in solid waste disposal sites (SWDSs) worldwide since
the 1950s, making them the largest PW reservoirs on
Earth1. Unfortunately, PW does not remain contained in
these sites, but leaks into the surrounding environment
or forms deteriorated, smaller PW. Understanding and
quantifying these processes is often overlooked in the
current PW management practices and policies, but is
critical in effectively fighting plastic pollution.
SWDS is a generic term for sanitary landfills (engi-
neered and prevalent in high-​income countries) and
uncontrolled dumpsites (typically with little to no contain-
ment system and poor management, and more common
in low-​income and middle-​income countries). Global
SWDSs contain an estimated 4.9 × 109 tonnes of PW:
2.6 × 109 tonnes in sanitary landfills and 2.3 × 109 tonnes
in uncontrolled dumpsites2,3 (Fig. 1a).
Here, we discuss the long-​term fates of these disposed
plastics, highlighting how improperly managed SWDSs
can leak plastics to the environment. We suggest mitiga-
tion strategies to prevent further pollution and identify
urgent research needs to support these efforts.
Plastic waste leakage
SWDSs are expected to store municipal solid waste
(MSW) and PW for decades to centuries, but current
understanding of the long-​term PW alternations dur-
ing storage is conceptual and incomplete. PW undergoes
degradation, dissolution, mechanical wearing, leach-
ing and adsorption of chemicals, and conglomeration
(to plastiglomerate) at rates different than those in nat-
ural environments. In addition, fresh and altered PW
are gradually fragmented into secondary and smaller
PW, producing microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics
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that have higher hydrological and atmospheric mobil-
ity in SWDSs and natural environments than their
precursors4.
PW can leave SWDSs through intentional scavenging
and commercial mining, but it most often escapes these
sites owing to hydrological (surface runoff, flooding,
coastal erosion, leachate leakage) and atmospheric (wind
transport) forces, which can be exacerbated by poor site
management5. Leaked macro- and micro-​size PW con-
tribute to global plastic pollution as it migrates in the
environment, where containment and mitigation efforts
are exceptionally difficult. However, the occurrence,
magnitude and rate of PW leakages from SWDSs have
not been systematically quantified at a global, national,
municipal or even site scale.
Current knowledge suggests that PW leakage rates
vary widely owing to site-​specific operating, geographic
and climatic conditions (Fig.  1b,c). We assessed the
50 major dumpsites6 and 50 major landfills7 globally
for their site conditions and PW leakage potentials. The
50 landfills have higher individual annual MSW disposal
rates and average PW content than the 50 dumpsites.
Although the hydrological and atmospheric forces (in
terms of annual mean wind speed and precipitation rate)
of the 100 dumpsites and landfills are roughly compa-
rable, the surface runoff and wind transport of PW
from the landfills only occur in newly disposed MSW
layers prior to daily covering, thus their leakage rates
are largely reduced. In addition, the landfills effectively
mitigate, if not eliminate, the occurrences of scaveng-
ing, slope failure, flooding, coastal erosion and surface
burning, all of which facilitate PW leakage. The leakages
of MP-​containing leachate from landfills are minimized
by the engineered collection and containment systems.
These systems have finite service lives of between
decades and centuries before failures and significant
leakages occur8 (Fig. 1c).
By contrast, dumpsites have long-​lasting leakages
of pollutants due to the lack of engineered control sys-
tems. The uncovered waste is exposed to precipitation,
volume 3 | November 2022 | 733
Comment

Cumulative disposal amount

of PW in SWDSs (log tonne)

109 108 107 106 105

Dumpsite disposal ratio in
DS
each country DS+LF × 100%
50 major dumpsites
0–20–40–60–80–100% 50 major landfills
b c

Leakage and recovery rate

Leakage and recovery rate
Conceptual dumpsite Conceptual landfill

Cumulative PW mass
Cumulative PW mass

(not to scale) (not to scale)

Start Time Closure Start Time Closure

Disposal Storage Scavenging Disposal Storage Mining
Surface runoff + leachate leakage Surface runoff + leachate leakage
Wind transport + surface burning Wind transport

Fig. 1 | Global distribution and fate of disposed PW in SWDSs. a | Cumulative disposal amounts of PW in
SWDSs and the ratios of cumulative disposal amounts in dumpsites (DS) to those in dumpsites plus landfills (DS + LF).
b,c | Time-​dependent storage mass and leakage and recovery rates of PW from dumpsites (panel b) and landfills (panel c).
The disposal and storage mass of PW correspond to the left axis. The leakage and recovery rates of PW correspond to the
right axis.

which generates surface runoff carrying lightweight seems inevitable in the near future. Hence, proper equip-
PW to adjacent watersheds. Slope failures in dumpsites ment and worker training must be a priority to promote
expose and redistribute fractions of buried MSW, thus healthy and environmentally safe operation at these sites.
facilitating subsequent PW leakage. MP-​laden leachate There must also be improvements in the siting criteria,
escapes dumpsites and migrates into vadose zones and design and operation of new dumpsites, if upgrading
aquifers. Dumpsites close to waterbodies could release them to landfills is impractical, by including rigorous
PW by being flooded or hydrologically eroded. Wind engineering and proper governance. New dumpsites
transport displaces surficial lightweight PW of various should be sited carefully to avoid locations with vulner-
sizes to the environment. Direct and crude intervention, able environments, including catchment, floodplain,
such as incomplete burning of surficial MSW, also con- coastal area and karst area. Examples of improved design
verts a small fraction of the burnt PW to secondary and and operation of dumpsites include affordable contain-
suspended MPs, which are prone to surface runoff ment systems, waste compaction and covering vehicles,
and wind transport (Fig.  1b). Anthropogenic warm- and onsite sorting facilities. The major obstacle for build-
ing, sea level rise and more frequent extreme weather ing better dumpsites in low-​income and middle-​income
events will accelerate MSW and PW leakages from countries is the shortage of sufficient investment.
uncontrolled dumpsites9. Revamping local waste management systems is a chal-
lenging and expensive task. The local authorities oversee-
Implications for waste management ing leaky dumpsites in low-​income and middle-​income
Given the global distribution of SWDSs and vastly countries usually have limited knowledge and resources
different local capabilities of site management, a PW for proper waste management, hence external help from
management strategy that differentiates between the national government and international organizations
priorities for dumpsites and landfills is needed. will be helpful, if not necessary, for sound management.
A top priority is the immediate reduction of leakage Landfills have different priorities for PW man-
from existing dumpsites, using economical and readily agement than dumpsites, as the priority is ensuring
available solutions, such as boundary fencing, tempo- long-​term infrastructure resilience against failures and
rary waste covering, runoff diversion, burning bans and leakages. This action requires improved understand-
improved compaction. Onsite sorting and scavenging ing and technology developments in the monitoring,
of PW has been deeply rooted in many dumpsites and investigation and remediation of landfills. As long-​term

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containment is ensured, efforts should be oriented
towards resource recovery, including enhancing on-​site
waste separation and recycling, and promoting waste
mining in suitable landfills. The long-​term deterioration
of land-​disposed PW and other recyclable wastes should
be evaluated to justify and optimize the entry point of
waste mining.
National and international directives to combat plas-
tic pollution and achieve plastic neutrality will only work
if PW in SWDSs is adequately managed. SWDSs are not
the final reservoirs of plastics, and unfortunately, there is
no panacea for PW management. Instead, PW must be
managed differently in dumpsites versus landfills, with
an emphasis on immediate PW leakage containment in
dumpsites. Upgrading SWDS facilities, improving the
assessment for PW fates, improving PW recovery and
transformation methods, and substituting conventional
plastics with landfillable plastics should be long-​term
research priorities. These efforts will complement poli-
cies and initiatives that limit single-​use plastics, imple-
ment sustainability accounting for waste governance,
and facilitate global coordination and cooperation in
dumpsite remediation10.
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Acknowledgements
Xunchang Fei thanks the supports from Debris of the Anthropocene to
Resources (DotA2) Lab at NTU.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affiliations.
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