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Landfills: Legal, Illegal, Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste WHAT IS A LEGAL LANDFILL? Community refuse disposal areas are nearly as old as public waste management itself. The first municipal waste site in Western Civilization is believed to have been established around 500 B.C. in Athens, Greece. The Council of Athens issued an order prohibiting the dumping of garbage within one mile of the city wall. American landfills were preceded by disposal areas similar to those of ancient Greece. No efforts were made to compact or cover trash at these unregulated town dumps. Over the years, these illegal dumps have been replaced with sanitary landfills which are sophisticated in design and regulated in every aspect. Landfills are the most widely used solid waste management option. “In 1995, there were approximately 2,500 landfills in America into which we put approximately 57 percent of our municipal solid waste” (1). A legal landfill is a carefully engineered depression in the ground into which wastes are put. The aim is to avoid any connection between the wastes and the surrounding environment, particularly groundwater. Basically, a landfill is a bathtub in the ground; a double-lined landfill is one bathtub inside another. L