Membrane technology for treating leachate will be put into operation at the Hegang City municipal solid waste landfill in Heilongjiang Province.

　　According to a report from Dongbei Net in Hegang on January 19, 2015, reporters learned recently from the Municipal Urban Management Bureau’s Sanitation Department that, after two years of intensive construction, the city’s municipal solid waste treatment facility is now nearing completion and is slated to begin operation soon.

　　According to available information, the city currently generates over 1,000 tons of municipal solid waste per day, all of which is disposed of through rudimentary landfilling. The collected waste is dumped directly into abandoned open pits without any treatment, resulting in leachate and fermentation gases that severely contaminate groundwater, urban air, and surrounding soils. This not only disrupts the daily lives and work of nearby residents and institutions but also poses risks to public health and creates safety hazards. Meanwhile, the urban area is increasingly confronted with the predicament of being “surrounded by garbage.” Introducing modern methods for municipal solid-waste management represents an effective solution to these problems. In addition, in recent years, the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development has issued guidelines on the harmless treatment of urban waste, stipulating that by 2015, the national rate of harmless treatment of urban solid waste should exceed 80% and that a comprehensive regulatory framework for urban waste management must be established.

　　The Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government attach great importance to urban solid waste management. Since 2008, this initiative has been designated as one of the key projects for improving people’s livelihoods. Plans were made to construct a municipal solid waste treatment facility in our city, which were subsequently submitted to the relevant provincial authorities for project approval. Following preliminary site selection, environmental impact assessment, land acquisition, technological research, and fundraising, coupled with more than two years of construction, the project has now reached a substantial stage and is poised to enter operation.

　　The project site is located at the No. 1 Forest Farm of Nanshan Forestry Farm, on the west side of the Hei–Yi Highway, approximately 20 kilometers from the city center. The total investment amounts to RMB 167.08 million, with a land area of 24.7 hectares and a total reservoir capacity of 5.39 million cubic meters. The facility is designed to process 950 tons of municipal solid waste per day, with a service life of 10 years, after which the site will be restored to vegetation. Upon completion, the landfill will employ a state-of-the-art anaerobic sanitary landfill technology, featuring a double‑layer artificial composite liner system made of high‑density polyethylene geomembrane at the base. A leachate collection system will be installed above the liner, and the leachate will undergo pretreatment—acidification and filtration in raw‑water tanks—followed by two‑stage reverse osmosis treatment, ensuring compliance with national standards before discharge, thereby addressing the issue of leachate contamination of groundwater. Additionally, a gas collection, diversion, and recovery system will be established to capture and treat landfill‑generated gases, mitigating air pollution caused by fermentation. The project scope encompasses the construction of a waste collection and transportation system, a sanitary landfill area, a leachate treatment station, an administrative zone, as well as associated utility infrastructure and equipment. As of the end of December 2014, the works had progressed to the following milestones: 255,000 cubic meters of landfill embankment; over 1,000 cubic meters of leachate diversion and drainage systems; more than 122,000 cubic meters of groundwater drainage systems; over 17,700 cubic meters of earthworks for stormwater diversion ditches; 630,000 square meters of geotextile installation; over 420,000 square meters of geomembrane laying; and the delivery and compaction of more than 354,000 cubic meters of yellow clay for the impermeable liner layer. The landfill’s drainage and seepage control systems, regulating ponds, stormwater diversion ditches, the integrated office building, and the leachate treatment plant along with its equipment have all been completed. Once operational, this municipal solid waste treatment project is expected to yield significant social and environmental benefits, playing a pivotal role in enhancing the city’s urban ecological environment.

　　Sun Pengfei, reporter for the Hegang Daily