The composition of local solid waste consists mainly of biodegradable waste with high moisture and organic content. After being landfilled, the waste decomposes through a series of combined physico-chemical and biological processes, resulting in the generation of landfill leachate. Unless treated properly, the leachate poses a serious threat to the environment and to public health. In this study, the use of an engineered system consisting of an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor and a vertical flow subsurface constructed wetland for the treatment of landfill leachate was investigated. The leachate obtained from a landfill facility in Aksaray, Turkey was fed into both systems and laboratory tests showed that, over the 6-week study period, the systems were able to efficiently remove chemical oxygen demand (88.6 %) and total nitrogen (80.7 %). The results of this study suggested that