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Landfill Airspace Calculator

Work out landfill airspace instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Landfill Airspace Calculator

Gross airspace is footprint times average fill depth, but 10-25% is consumed by daily and intermediate cover soil that occupies volume without generating revenue. Multiplying the remaining airspace by in-place density — typically 0.8-1.1 t/m3 with good compaction — gives the tonnage the cell can accept.

Formula

Landfill capacity

Waste airspace = footprint x depth x (1 - cover fraction); capacity (t) = waste airspace x in-place density

Worked example

With the default values below, Landfill Airspace Calculator returns Waste Capacity of 459,000. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Cell Footprint Areaminimum 0 m2
40,000 m2
Average Fill Depthminimum 0 m
15 m
Daily And Intermediate Coveraccepts 0–50 %
15 %
In-Place Waste Densityminimum 0 t/m3
0.9 t/m3

Results

Waste Capacity
459,000
Gross Airspace
600,000
Airspace Available For Waste
510,000
Airspace Utilisation Factor
0.9000

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Landfill capacity
  3. 3Waste Capacity= 459,000
  4. 4Gross Airspace= 600,000
  5. 5Airspace Available For Waste= 510,000
  6. 6Airspace Utilisation Factor= 0.9000

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 4 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
  • Landfill design, capping and gas and leachate management are governed by environmental permits and engineering standards. Confirm permitted volumes and stability requirements.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Landfill design, capping and gas and leachate management are governed by environmental permits and engineering standards. Confirm permitted volumes and stability requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does compaction matter so much?

Airspace is the landfill's saleable asset. Raising in-place density from 0.8 to 1.0 t/m3 puts 25% more waste in the same hole, which is why heavy compactors and thin-layer placement repay themselves quickly.

Can alternative daily cover help?

Yes. Geosynthetic covers, sprayed foams and tarpaulins replace 150-300 mm of soil each day, recovering a significant share of the cover airspace over the life of a cell.

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