Landfill Closure &
Post-Closure Care
Plan for Closure. Protect Performance for the Long Term.
Landfill closure is a transition—not an endpoint. ARM Group helps owners move from active operations through final closure and decades of post-closure care with practical designs, defensible documentation, reliable monitoring, and long-term stewardship strategies.
A Lifecycle Approach to Landfill Closure
Successful closure requires more than installing a final cover. The closure system must manage stormwater, landfill gas, leachate, settlement, erosion, environmental monitoring, maintenance, and future site use while meeting permit and financial assurance requirements.
ARM Group brings solid waste engineering, geotechnical design, hydrogeology, environmental monitoring, construction quality assurance, surveying, and regulatory expertise together. We support phased and final closure projects, then remain engaged to help owners inspect, maintain, document, and adapt closed facilities over the long term.
Closure Services
Closure Planning, Design & Permitting
- Closure feasibility and sequencing studies
- Closure and post-closure plan development and updates
- Phased and final closure design
- Traditional and alternative final cover system evaluation
- Final grading, settlement, and slope-stability evaluation
- Stormwater management and erosion-control design
- Landfill gas collection, control, and venting system integration
- Leachate collection and conveyance system integration
- Cap penetrations, access roads, and utility coordination
- Construction drawings, specifications, and cost estimates
- Closure permit applications and modifications
- Agency coordination and response to technical comments
- Financial assurance and bonding support
- Beneficial end-use planning, including renewable energy and recreational uses
Closure Construction Support
- Bid document preparation and procurement support
- Contractor submittal and request-for-information review
- Preconstruction and progress meetings
- Construction administration and owner’s representation
- Construction quality assurance and quality control
- Earthwork, soil, geosynthetic, drainage, and vegetation inspection
- Field and laboratory testing coordination
- Surveying, quantity verification, and as-built documentation
- Punch-list and corrective-work verification
- Construction certification reports
- Regulatory compliance certification
Financial Assurance & Cost Management
Closure and post-closure obligations must be supported by realistic, current cost estimates. ARM Group helps owners align financial planning with actual site conditions, maintenance needs, monitoring commitments, and remaining regulatory obligations.
- Closure and post-closure cost estimates
- Financial assurance plan preparation and updates
- Inflation adjustments and reasonableness reviews
- Evaluation of recurring and nonrecurring costs
- Cost tracking and expenditure certification support
- Contingency review based on completed work and operating history
- Escrow, trust, bonding, and agency submittal support
- Long-term capital and maintenance planning
Post-Closure Care
Post-Closure Inspection & Maintenance
Closed landfills remain active environmental systems. Regular inspections and timely maintenance help preserve the integrity of the cover, drainage features, gas controls, leachate systems, monitoring network, and site-security measures.
ARM Group can develop site-specific inspection and maintenance programs that include:
- Routine and annual professional-engineer inspections
- Final-cover inspection for erosion, settlement, cracking, ponding, and distressed vegetation
- Stormwater basin, channel, outfall, pump-station, and drainage-feature inspection
- Inspections following major storm events
- Landfill gas well, vent, probe, flare, blower, and control-system inspection
- Leachate collection, pumping, storage, and discharge-system evaluation
- Groundwater and surface-water monitoring-point inspection
- Roadway, fence, gate, signage, and access-control evaluation
- Review of previously identified repairs and corrective actions
- Maintenance plans, schedules, and equipment-specific procedures
- Repair prioritization, design, oversight, and documentation
- Annual inspection reports and professional certifications
Environmental Monitoring & Reporting
Post-closure monitoring demonstrates whether the facility’s engineered systems continue to perform as intended. ARM Group develops and implements monitoring programs matched to the site’s permit, closure plan, remedy, and regulatory commitments.
- Groundwater and surface-water monitoring
- Landfill gas and surface-emissions monitoring
- Leachate flow, level, and quality evaluation
- Stormwater monitoring, when required
- Water-level measurement and groundwater-flow evaluation
- Statistical analysis and long-term trend review
- Data quality assurance and quality control
- Evaluation of cap, containment, gas, leachate, and remedial-system performance
- Annual and periodic post-closure monitoring reports
- Monitoring plan updates and agency coordination
- Emerging-contaminant investigation support
Adapting Care as the Landfill Matures
Conditions change throughout the post-closure period. Gas generation may decline, monitoring trends may stabilize, infrastructure may age, and new site uses may be introduced. ARM Group helps owners evaluate whether systems and monitoring programs should be repaired, upgraded, optimized, decommissioned, or modified.
Services may include evaluating landfill gas wells or equipment for decommissioning, preparing closure-plan or permit modifications, conducting confirmation monitoring, and supporting requests to reduce or terminate specific monitoring obligations when the data and applicable requirements support that path.
Supporting Productive End Uses
Closed landfills can support beneficial uses when those uses are planned around the continuing requirements of the closure system. ARM Group helps clients evaluate and coordinate renewable energy, recreational, habitat, and other reuse concepts while protecting final-cover integrity, drainage, access, monitoring systems, and long-term maintainability.
Why ARM Group
ARM supports the full project lifecycle. We begin by understanding your operational goals, site constraints, permit requirements, schedule, and budget. From there, we develop practical alternatives, coordinate the required technical disciplines, and advance the preferred solution through permitting and final design.
During bidding and construction, our engineers and field professionals remain engaged to address questions, evaluate conditions, review submittals, and verify that the work meets the project documents and regulatory requirements. That continuity helps reduce surprises and keeps the design connected to what is actually built.
Closure Through Long-Term Stewardship
A practical path from closure planning to post-closure care.
Multidisciplinary Perspective
Engineering, science, surveying, and field expertise working together
Field-Informed
Solutions
Design decisions aligned with construction, inspection, maintenance, and repair realities.
Regulatory
Documentation
Clear reports and submittals that support agency review and informed decision-making.
Long-Term
Site Protection
Support for closure, post-closure care, financial assurance, and ongoing stewardship
Let’s plan for what comes next.
Whether you’re preparing for closure, addressing post-closure requirements, or evaluating long-term site needs, ARM can help develop a practical path forward.