STUDY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF UNCONTROLLED LANDFILL LEACHATE DISPOSAL TO THE SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT: A CASE STUDY FROM THE LANDFILL OF KATERINI E. Gaitanelis 1 , F. Kaminiotis, I. Kontos, A. Zafirakou, E. Darakas and M. Gianni* Laboratory of Environmental Engineering and Planning, Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece * Chemical Engineer, MS, EEDSA/HSWMA Member e-mail: lega.01@hotmail.com 1 ABSTRACT In this paper, the issue of solid waste management in Greece is being inspected. We have focused on the study of the landfills’ function as well as on the way in which the produced leachates are treated. This is due to the fact that Greece has set as a primary goal the rehabilitation of uncontrollable waste disposal areas and the construction of sanitary landfills. Thus, we are investigating under which circumstances the function of appropriate landfills could prove beneficial and environmentally-friendly. Towards this direction, the operation of one waste management establishment in northern Greece, from the beginning of its construction, is used as an example. We are investigating to what extent it has worked properly according to the prerequisite standards and to what extent it has had a negative impact on the environment and, in particular, on the water-bearings stratum. After an accident in fall of 2010, when excessive rainfall overloaded the storage tanks of the utility and leachates escaped into the neighboring croplands, the public’s concern was whether these leachates had been treated and if the water aquifers had been polluted. With that in mind, we took samples from different locations in the vicinity of the landfill, at three different periods of time. The analysis indicates that the samplings from the nearest to the landfill water aquifer were found polluted. It is worth mentioning that the sampling taken from the landfill’s outflow manhole was also found polluted. This example aims at the readers’ realization of the current situati on of solid waste management in Greece. Two questions are consequently raised. Are the facilities operating under supervised authority, with maximum safety standards for the environment? How is one sanitary landfill guarantying the purity of water returned into nature? As a result, a proper correlation should be achieved and this could lead to useful conclusions and suggestions for further improvement on this field (solid waste management in Greece). Taking everything into consideration, the conclusions drawn from this study are likely to lead us to improved solutions for the proper function of the landfills. Keywords Solid waste management; sanitary landfills; leachates; aquifer pollution