Abstract
The adoption of sustainable waste management strategies is a challenge faced by most European countries, mainly due to the need to generate less waste and replace landfills with new methods of waste treatment, associated with increases in the separate collection of waste and recycling rates. This paper highlights the significance of environmental legislation regarding waste removal to protect ecosystems. The aim was to predict ecological responses to heavy metals in soil exposed to hazardous waste and to identify environmental hazards in landfills, small illegal waste dumps, and litter, in addition to identifying if heavy metal accumulation in the investigated soil samples showed a single or cumulative risk. This is an innovative method to predict the ecological risk generated by hazardous waste landfills. The assessment of ecological risks was based on the evaluation of a heavy metal soil contamination factor, pollution index of soil loadings, a geo-accumulation index for heavy metals, and potential ecological risk. The current study is also the first to attempt to identify the dimension of risk based on the type of waste deposit (landfill, small illegal waste dump, and litter) and to identify potential patterns. The geological index corresponding to cadmium Igeo(Cd) showed heavy contamination in the soil samples from the landfill and moderate contamination for those from the illegal waste dumps. These findings indicate that soil contamination is influenced by contamination time, anthropogenic processes, and a history of industrial activity, and not only by waste composition and storage. The present study shows that cadmium might be considered a latent fingerprint for waste disposal, which is correlated to the industrialization level and rehabilitation procedures.
Highlights
In accordance with Directive 75/442 C.E. (15 July 1975) [1], any substance or object for which there is an intention or obligation to be discarded is considered waste
The objective of the present study is to provide the information necessary for determining or predicting ecological responses to heavy metals in soil exposed to hazardous waste and to offer answers regarding two main questions: (Q1 ) “What is the environmental hazard of concern in the case of landfills, small illegal waste dumps, and litter?”; and (Q2 ) “Do heavy metals show a single or multiple/cumulative risk?” These questions were examined using a study of soil samples collected from different areas in the western part of Romania
Our study provides an overview of the impact of time on waste disposal, proving that a landfill is more harmful than illegal waste dumps because the latter are removed from the environment once identified
Summary
In accordance with Directive 75/442 C.E. (15 July 1975) [1], any substance or object for which there is an intention or obligation to be discarded is considered waste. (15 July 1975) [1], any substance or object for which there is an intention or obligation to be discarded is considered waste. In the last stage of decomposition, this “product” remains the final waste. Regarding the collection of waste from cities, for aesthetic reasons and as a task for public bodies, recognition of the influence of harmful substances on living organisms and adoption of improved analysis techniques emerged in the early 1980s. Urban waste has begun to be considered as an indefinite mixture of substances, more or less chemically harmful, but which, through internal chemical and biological reactions, can lead to other, more harmful substances. In formal considerations, landfills have come to be called “reactor landfills”, and scientists have begun to pay attention to the reactive potential of waste and its harmful emissions [3]
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