ANALYSIS OF CLOSED LANDFILLS IN KAUNAS DISTRICT

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to draw attention of Lithuanian Municipal Administrations, Regional Waste Management Centers and solar energy project developers to the more efficient uses and reusability options of disturbed land and development of renewable energy sources. The demand for land as it is a finite resource as well as sustainable energy alternatives for fossil fuels is growing and will undoubtedly increase in the future. The potential of closed landfill sites, i.e. disturbed land, is not being used to its full capacity. Rather than installing solar power plants on high-value agricultural land, a more appropriate and more sustainable way would be to install it on closed landfill sites where no economic activity is allowed. Converting a piece of unused land into a land suitable for sustainable energy production is one of the ways to use a disturbed land more effectively. This paper carries out an analysis of closed landfills in Kaunas district using data gathered from Land Information System, Regional Geoinformational Environment Service and State Geological Information System. By the year 2007 12 operating landfills across Kaunas district had been closed down with locations situated more or less evenly throughout the district`s territory. Upon analyzing spatial datasets, it was established that the closed landfills are in forests, grasslands, pastures, crops, perennial grasses and other land. Since current regulations only allow for the construction of solar PV power plants on closed landfills sites without any additional spatial planning process, the most relevant closed landfills are those that are categorized as other land.