The characteristics of leachate can vary widely due to a number of site specific factors.
The manner in which the resulting leachate is collected, treated, and released are a function of
the initial water quality, the design of the overall landfill area, and the desired or regulated
effluent water quality standards. (Johannessen, 1999) The standards to which leachate must
adhere for landfills within developed nations have all been established by the extensive research
performed on solid waste compositions, landfills in general, and the subsequent leachate studied
over the past century in these countries. However, for landfills built within developing nations,
such as Fiji, comparatively little research has been performed in order to justify any sort of
criteria for leachate effluent and the necessary treatment required to reach those levels.
Consequently, the leachate standards that have been set by the few developing nations with the
funding to build engineered landfills have been based on developed world standards. Yet, site
specific factors that characterize the initial leachate produced are for the most part drastically
different in developing nations from that seen amongst the developed nations; in particular,
waste composition and climate. Furthermore, the leachate treatment systems available to
developing nations are generally more constrained due to financial limitations for installation as
well as operation, maintenance, and monitoring of these systems.