Landfill Life Calculator

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

About Landfill Life Calculator

Remaining life at constant input is simply capacity divided by annual input, but growth compounds and shortens it materially over a long horizon. Additional diversion to recycling or energy recovery extends life proportionally, which is usually far cheaper than permitting new void space.

Formulas

Simple life

Life (years) = remaining capacity / annual input after diversion

With growth

Annual input grows geometrically; life is the year in which cumulative input exhausts capacity

Worked example

With the default values below, Landfill Life Calculator returns Remaining Landfill Life of 9.0. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Remaining Capacityminimum 0 tonnes: 500,000 tonnes
Annual Waste Inputminimum 0 tonnes/year: 60,000 tonnes/year
Annual Growth In Inputaccepts -20–20 %: 2 %
Planned Additional Diversionaccepts 0–90 %: 10 %

Results

Remaining Landfill Life: 9.0
Life At Constant Input: 9.259
Annual Input After Diversion: 54,000.0
Average Annual Consumption: 55,555.6

Step by step

1Values used
2Simple life
3With growth
4Remaining Landfill Life= 9.0
5Life At Constant Input= 9.259
6Annual Input After Diversion= 54,000.0
7Average Annual Consumption= 55,555.6

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 or fees or charges into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
Landfill capacity and final contours are set by the environmental permit and planning consent. Overfilling beyond permitted levels is a breach.

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

Landfill capacity and final contours are set by the environmental permit and planning consent. Overfilling beyond permitted levels is a breach.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why plan replacement capacity so far ahead?

Permitting, land acquisition and construction of a new landfill cell commonly take five to ten years. A site with eight years of life left is already at the decision point.

Does settlement create extra capacity?

Yes. Waste settles 10-25% of its placed depth over decades, and some of that can be recovered by overfilling within the permitted final contours, subject to stability and capping design.