Preparation for northward expansion: Kapiteltal landfill opts for secondary construction materials

Cooperation for northern expansion

The partnership between ZAK (Zentrale Abfallwirtschaft Kaiserslautern) and the REMEX Group has been in place since 2013. At the time, the aim was to build a landfill on top of an existing landfill in the Kapiteltal valley. Now the landfill site is being expanded by 14,800 square metres to the north-west, creating an additional storage volume of 865,000 cubic metres.

However, the planned landfill area was occupied by the waste transfer facility. A new location had to be found and created for this facility. Household waste incineration ash was used for this purpose. ZAK and the companies commissioned by it are responsible for this measure. The materials are supplied by REMEX.

Challenging terrain

The new transshipment facility is being built outside the landfill body on the northern flank of the Kapiteltal valley. Since the site where the facility will be located is on a slope, a 24-meter-high plateau first had to be created. The supporting structure required for this is based on the principle of reinforced earth, in which reinforcement elements are inserted in layers into the fill material to absorb tensile forces. The requirement that the entire site fill must not only be sufficiently load-bearing but also resistant to settlement placed particularly high demands on the mechanical properties of the construction material. It is crucial that the material exhibits the necessary homogeneity both on the steep slope and in the area of the large-scale terrain fill to prevent uneven settlement at the surface. This is an important aspect where industrially manufactured secondary aggregates such as incinerator bottom ash (IBA) prove to be particularly advantageous.