TY - JOUR A1 - Simon, Franz-Georg A1 - Müller, Werner T1 - Standard and alternative landfill capping design in Germany JF - Environmental science & policy N2 - Engineered capping systems are in most cases an indispensable and often the only efficient component required by the long-term safety concept for landfills, mine tailings tips and contaminated land. In Germany the composite liner is the main component of standard landfill cappings for municipal and hazardous waste landfills and the compacted clay liner (CCL) for landfills for inert or low-contamination waste. The composite liner is a technically highly effective but very expensive system. Research and experience has given rise to concern about the proper long-term performance of a conventional single CCL as a landfill capping. Therefore, alternative capping systems are discussed and applied for landfills and for the containment of contaminated sites. This paper gives an overview on various alternative engineered cappings and suitable systems for capping reflecting the state of the art and the expert view in Germany. According to the European Council Directive on the landfill of waste an impermeable mineral layer is recommended for the surface sealing of non-hazardous landfills and a composition of artificial sealing liner and impermeable mineral layer for hazardous landfills. In both cases a drainage layer thickness of at least 0.5 m is suggested. These recommendations should be interpreted flexibly and to some extent modified in the light of the experience and results presented in this paper. KW - Landfills KW - Capping system KW - Durability KW - Permeability PY - 2004 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2004.04.002 SN - 1462-9011 VL - 7 IS - 4 SP - 277 EP - 290 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Exeter AN - OPUS4-3742 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -