SIMDEO: An integrated system for landfill detection and monitoring using EO data

The monitoring of landfills and the detection of illegal and uncontrolled dump sites is a central environmental issue in all developed countries and a critical problem particularly in the southern regions of Italy. The consequences of the persisting uncontrolled disposal of wastes are now manifest after the occurrence of numerous critical emergencies (e.g. Naples 2009 and 2010). Furthermore, the strong infiltration of mafia-type criminal organizations in the legal process of waste disposal has led to even more critical conditions. The number of illegal landfills in Italy is constantly increasing; the last estimate made in 2010 has listed more than 5000 not authorized contaminated areas covering 2000 hectares of surface but there is the suspicion that these figures are strongly underestimated. Very recently Italy has been also threatened by the European Commission with €56m fine for having violated the landfill directives in not following the appropriate waste treatment. This work aims at presenting a new synergic approach based on EO optical and SAR data for detecting illegal landfills and monitoring existing and known waste disposal sites.