Abstract: Disclosed is a method of producing a landfill and the landfill produced thereby wherein waste to be landfilled is comminuted to yield homogeneously-sized waste particles, mixed with liquid wastes such as waste water treatment sludges and the like, and then placed into a sanitary containment site with a leachate and gas collection system such that there is a uniform moisture distribution throughout the waste mass. Leachate collected from the waste mass is uniformly re-introduced into the waste mass so as to maintain the uniform moisture distribution. The landfill produced thereby maximizes anaerobic fermentation within the waste mass, thereby maximizing the production of valuable landfill gasses.

Abstract: A method of obtaining a substantially anaerobic sample from a landfill comprising providing a bore hole which opens at the surface of the landfill, substantially sealing off atmospheric air from a zone which includes at least a region of the bore hole to define an essentially anaerobic zone. Refuse from the anaerobic zone within the bore hole is loaded into a sample container in the anaerobic zone. The sample container is sealed within the anaerobic zone and then removed from the anaerobic zone. The sample can be used for various tests, including a determination of the rate of landfill gas generation by the sample.

Abstract: Method of testing a landfill for its methane potential comprising selecting a landfill which contains a significant decomposable fraction and a significant non-decomposable fraction, locating a plurality of zones within the landfill with each of said zones having at least one different characteristic, taking at least one sample of the material of the landfill at each of the zones, measuring the content of each of the fractions of each of the samples, and utilizing the ratio of one of the fraction contents to the other of the fraction contents for at least some of the samples to find the approximate methane potential of the landfill.