A comprehensive investigation of geoenvironmental pollution and health effects from municipal solid waste landfills

Abstract

This study investigates human health risks associated with heavy metals (HMs) occurrence in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. For testing of selected MSW landfills steps were involved, including site characterization, soil sampling and chemical testing, statistical analysis, as well as health risk assessment, carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects. For the Polish landfill (Radiowo) the average HMs concentrations were found in the following order: Zn (52.74 mg/kg DM) > Pb (28.32 mg/kg DM) > Cu (12.14 mg/kg DM) > Ni (4.50 mg/kg DM) > Cd (3.49 mg/kg DM), while for the Czech landfill (Zdounky): Zn (32.05 mg/kg DM) > Cu (14.73 mg/kg DM) > Ni (4.73 mg/kg DM) > Pb (0.10 mg/kg DM) = Cd (0.10 mg/kg DM). Strong positive correlations between selected HMs demonstrated identical origins. Principal component analysis (PCA) performed for the Radiowo landfill transferred the soil parameters into three principal components (PCs), accounting for 87.12% of the total variance. The results of the PCA analysis for the Zdounky landfill revealed three PCs responsible for 95.16% of the total variance. The exposure pathways of HMs for landfills were in the following order: ingestion > dermal absorption > inhalation. For both landfills, the values of hazard quotient were lower than 1, indicating no potential negative health effects. In terms of the hazard index (HI), for both landfills, no adverse human health effects occur (HI < 1). The incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) values indicated negligible or acceptable carcinogenic risk of HMs (average ILCR in the range from 5.01E−10 to 5.19E−06).