ABSTRACT
Defining the best waste management solution for municipal solid waste (MSW) is not an easy task and is definitively not a one-size-fits-all type of decision process. This challenge is even greater when it comes to decisions regarding isolated regions, such as the case of the city of Coyhaique, capital of the region of Aysén in Chilean Patagonia. At the time of this study, the region lacked an appropriate waste management infrastructure, as no sanitary landfill was operating in the region, and no formal recycling activities took place. It actually consisted of the collection of unsorted waste from households and direct disposal in an uncontrolled dumping site. This led to several social and environmental impacts, among which the most relevant considered is groundwater infiltration of the resulting leachate, emission of generated landfill gas, as well as the presence of uncontrolled sanitary vectors around the disposal site. For this reason, during the late 2000s, the construction of a sanitary landfill for the city of Coyhaique was planned, designed to be the cornerstone for future waste management concepts for the city. The sanitary landfill was conceived with a basic engineering structure to provide the necessary multi-barrier concept, to ensure appropriate waste disposal in Coyhaique and neighbouring cities (IASA 2003).
