Comprehensive containment and capping at Thailand’s ESBEC landfill

Overview

Waste Management Siam (WMS) provides comprehensive waste management services to industrial, commercial, and municipal customers in Thailand. With a focus on sanitary operations and environmentally responsible practices, WMS ensures compliance with Thai regulations and international waste management standards. Its goal is to keep both the community and the environment safe through high-quality, controlled operations.

In 2000, WMS launched its first project, the Eastern Seaboard Environmental Complex (ESBEC). This facility was the first fully licensed and permitted non-hazardous waste disposal site in Thailand. Nearly two decades later, WMS sought to upgrade containment and capping systems to ensure the landfill continued to meet evolving standards. Solmax was brought into the project by the landfill project engineer to design and supply a bundled geosynthetic solution that would deliver full containment and long-term performance.

Challenge

ESBEC represented a pioneering step in Thailand’s waste management sector. As the first of its kind, the facility required both compliance with national regulations and alignment with recognized international standards. By 2018, landfill engineering practices had advanced significantly, with growing emphasis on comprehensive containment, capping systems, and leachate and gas control.

The challenge was to implement a solution that would address multiple requirements within a short timeframe. The project needed to provide a complete geosynthetic lining and capping system capable of delivering protection against seepage, managing decomposition by-products, and ensuring environmental monitoring standards were met. The solution had to incorporate multiple functions, barrier protection, filtration, drainage, and soil separation, while maintaining installation efficiency.

Equally critical was the project timeline. The contractor, Siam Installer, required all materials to be supplied, installed, and completed within three months. Meeting these tight deadlines without compromising quality demanded close coordination between material production, delivery, and installation. Finally, the system’s performance would need to be independently verified to confirm its integrity and give confidence to both the client and the surrounding community.

Solution

Solmax supplied a complete geosynthetic system for the ESBEC landfill site, combining GSE® HD geomembranes, BENTOLINER® geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs), and geotextiles. Together, these materials formed a multi-layer containment and capping solution.

The installation included 15,680 m² of 1.5 mm smooth GSE HD geomembrane and 11,200 m² of 1.5 mm double-textured GSE HD geomembrane. These liners acted as the primary impermeable barrier, preventing leachate from migrating into the surrounding soil and groundwater. GSE HD liner series exceeds all requirements of the GRI GM13 standard, offering excellent chemical and UV resistance as well as long-term endurance, making them an optimal choice for landfill applications.

Complementing the geomembranes, 12,375 m² of BENTOLINER GCL were installed. The BENTOLINER GCL added another layer of leak protection and waterproofing, providing dimensional stability and internal shear strength. This fabric-encased clay liner enhanced overall system performance by offering redundancy in seepage control.

To complete the system, 38,100 m² of geotextiles were applied. These geotextiles performed several functions: acting as protective layers to shield the geomembranes from puncture, facilitating filtration and drainage, and separating soils to improve constructability. By integrating these elements, Solmax ensured that the landfill lining and capping system could handle both mechanical and hydraulic stresses.