Third international workshop on the use of paper industry sludges in environmental geotechnology and construction
This paper will provide a summary of the possible and current applications of paper mill sludge in geotechnical and environmental geotechnology construction. The geotechnical behavior of paper mill sludges will be presented to show its unique behavior and properties. For example, the ability of paper mill sludges to achieve low hydraulic conductivities (less than 10 9 cm/s) is an important characteristic, especially in environmental geotechnology problems related to waste containment systems. Paper mill sludge has gained popularity internationally, within the European Community, Canada, South Africa and United States. Examples of paper mill sludge applications include landfill hydraulic barrier layers, landfilling operations daily cover, landfill barrier protection layers, semi permeable reactive barriers, and paper sludge fly ash mixtures used in lightly loaded foundation systems. The increasing use of paper mill sludge in construction represents a fraction of the rapidly growing area of recycled geo materials. This type of technological innovation is beneficial to countries where landfill space is limited and the production of industrial waste (residual) materials is high.