Cu and Zn were chosen to study the heavy metal migration behavior and mechanism in three simulated landfills with different operation modes, namely conventional landfill (CL), leachate directly recirculated landfill (RL) and leachate pre-treated bioreactor landfill (BL). It showed that Cu and Zn in refuse experienced periodic migration and retention gradually during decomposition, and the variation of Cu(II) and Zn(II) in leachate correspondingly reflected the releasing behavior of Cu and Zn in landfill refuse at different stabilization stages. Except for their accumulated leaching amounts, Cu(II) and Zn(II) concentrations in leachate from landfills with different operation modes had no significant difference. The accumulated leaching amounts of Cu and Zn from CL showed exponential increase, while those of RL and BL showed exponential decay. The operation of bioreactor landfill with leachate recirculation can obviously attenuate the heavy metal leaching than conventional operation. The introduction of methanogenic reactor (MR) in bioreactor landfill can further promote the immobilization of heavy metal in refuse than leachate recirculation directly. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.