The final cover system serves as the closed landfill’s most important feature for protecting public health and the environment. We can expect the geomembrane installed as part of a traditional final cover system to last for 500 years. However, some shortcomings are:

• Loss of landfill airspace due to cover soil and infiltration soil requirements
• Veneer slope stability
• Soil erosion
• The continual need to mow and maintain the cover vegetation

A number of alternative cover systems have been developed and constructed on both a demonstration scale and commercial scale. In this report, their benefits, risks, service lives, and costs are compared with traditional, prescribed final cover systems.