Impact of a new Legislation on Volatile Organic Compounds Emissions in an Open Landfill in Tropical Insular Climate

Abstract

Concentrations of airborne Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) were evaluated by monitoring landfill gases at the main municipal solid waste of Guadeloupe archipelago. Opened in 1973, the open landfill of La Gabarre is still operated nowadays. Over last decade, nature of stored waste and landfill configuration have evolved. Before 2008, waste was just spread out on the floor and there was no gas collection nor leachate recirculation systems installed. After 2009, new units were set up to collect and treat hazardous waste. VOCs measurements have been performed at La Gabarre for two distinct periods with two portable devices: an Open-Path Fourier Transform InfraRed (OPFTIR) spectrometer in 2003 and a Mass Spectrometer (MS 200) in 2012. Four VOCs commonly found in landfill plume were measured. Between 2003 and 2012, a sharp decrease is observed in the concentrations of benzene and trichloroethylene. Tetrachloroethylene was not detected by the OP-FTIR spectrometer. Taking acetaldehyde as an example, it was hypothesized that this decrease could not be related to the difference between measurement techniques. These results suggest that in recent years with the application of a new legislation and the installation of gas collection systems, emissions of VOCs in the atmosphere due to garbage have decreased at La Gabarre.