Alternative Final Landfill Cover

Alternative Cover Assessment Program

More than 50 landfills throughout the state are utilizing an alternative final cover system. Alternative final covers are cost-effective, and, in certain climates, may be environmentally superior to the current final landfill covers prescribed in Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations.

In March 1999, the Integrated Waste Management Board (now CalRecycle) entered into a contract with the Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada, to provide additional funding for a national research program called the Alternative Cover Assessment Program (ACAP). The goal of ACAP was to evaluate the adequacy of various proposed alternative cover systems. 

ACAP developed field-scale performance data for landfill final cover systems.  Both prescriptive and innovative alternative cover designs were tested in the project.

Thirteen sites throughout the nation were selected to participate in the ACAP study. Of those 13 sites, four sites are in California, and were included because they represented unique climates and environments. They are:

• Kiefer Landfill, Sacramento County
• Monterey Peninsula Landfill (Marina), Monterey County
• Altamont Landfill and Resource Recovery Facility, Alameda County
• Apple Valley Landfill, San Bernardino County. 

Many landfills in California's arid and semiarid regions are utilizing evapotranspiration (ET) final covers after receiving approval from regulatory agencies to use an alternative final cover.   

Last updated: September 22, 2011