Most waste is disposed in landfills. This means dumping rubbish into holes in the ground. Landfill sites have improved over the last few years to prevent leaching.

While many lands are running out of landfill space, there are no European or International laws covering their use.

As pressure grows in the developed countries to handle waste carefully, to avoid complaints about land contamination from landfill or air contamination from incineration, there will be an increased trend to ship the waste to developing countries.