Abstract: To investigate the working conditions and design parameters of excavation of the existing municipal solid waste (MSW) from the landfill, a large-scale study of excavation was conducted on the landfill in southern China after the pilot-scale study. The results showed that: 1) the continuity of operations of the bucket wheel excavator was poor with an efficiency lower than 50 t/h; 2) the densities of waste samples after excavation were decreased by about 34%, compared to 1.04 t/m³ of that in the original condition; 3) the average efficiency of load was about 6 vehicles per hour, which composed 46% of the design value, and continuity of operations was mainly affected by the dispatch of the MSW incineration plant; 4) within 1 to 18 hours, with the extension of continuous operation time, the excavation efficiency generally increased and then decreased, with a maximum value appearing near 10 hours, and there were differences in the distributions of excavation efficiency among day, night and crossing-day-night, and it was advisable to choose crossing-day-night operation; 5) the concentration levels of six pollutants in the air of the monitoring points of the landfill boundary and the excavation area were generally low, but the data were not enough to analyze the impact of excavation, and the rapid monitoring of air should be strengthened when the weight of waste excavated on one hour exceeding 180 t; 6) the amount of leachate and rainfall changed synchronously after excavation, and the amount of leachate after excavation was consistent with the amount of the two months before excavation, indicating that excavation did not cause an increase in the amount of leachate. The above results could provide a reference for the formal design of excavation engineering.