Ontario regulations can necessitate expensive leachate treatment plants in large landfills. Lower-cost technologies may suit rural landfills due to lower waste toxicity and less proximity to residents. One low-cost technology is a trickling filter using tire chips or mixed broken glass (MBG) as filter media instead of non-renewable aggregate. Aerobic fixed-bed reactors using river-rock gravel, crushed rock, tire chips,and MBG as filter media were compared. COD treatment of stabilized leachate

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... Phase 1 was limited (max. 21%). Activated sludge was added in Phase 2, and MGB removed 30% COD, 88% BOD₅, 38% NH₃-N, 99% BOD₅, and 90-98% TSS from a stronger synthetic leachate. NH₃-N removal improved, while TS removal remained limited. All media types performed similarly, suggesting that tire chips and MBG could be used to treat low-to-medium-strength leachate in a trickling filter.