Evapotranspiration (ET) landfill covers have been proposed as an alternative to traditional barrier covers, with aims to improve long-term environmental performance and reduce the financial burden of closure costs, particularly for rural landfills. This research is exploring the potential for an ET cover to be implemented at a landfill in south-east Australia. Opportunities exist at this site to utilize a basalt quarry waste product (scalps) typical of the extractive industry for purposes of the cover substrate, while vegetation selection has focused on local plant species. Although the agronomic properties of the scalps are not ideal, preliminary planting trials have shown that the scalps substrate has significant potential for sustaining a careful selection of native trees and grasses. The application of mulch has not resulted in any overall plant growth advantage. A compaction trial conducted with full-scale machinery has enabled the method of placing scalps to be related to the in situ dry bulk density achieved. Performance of the designed ET cover profile will be monitored with four large test sections. Two of the test sections will employ lysimetry for the direct collection of percolation, whilst the other two sections will remain open to the normal fluxes of landfill gas, heat and water vapour present in the landfill environment in order to observe their effects on the establishing vegetation cover