Odour Impact Monitoring for Landfills

Abstract

In the perspective of the improvement of life quality and citizens wellness, odour pollution is becoming a more and more relevant topic. In fact, among the variables that could influence the citizens’ sense of a healthy environment, odour emissions play an important role, as they deeply affect the human life quality and psycho-physical wellness. An odour is a mixture of light and small molecules, that are able to stimulate an anatomical response in the human olfactory system (Craven et al., 1996). The nose represents the interface between the ambient air and the central nervous system; in fact chemicals interact with the olfactory epithelium which contains different olfactory receptors and the signals are transmitted to the brain, where the final perceived odour results from a series of neural computations. The olfactory signals are processed also thanks to the memory effect of previous experienced smells, thus accounting for the high subjectivity of the odour perception (Freeman, 1991; Pearce, 1997). In this way the sense of smell permits to detect the presence of some chemicals in the ambient air and for this reason odour perception is sometimes associated with a risk sensation (Dalton, 2003; Rosenkranz & Cunningham, 2003) or however it represents an indicator of a not salubrious situation for people suffering for olfactory pollution. Although odours do not involve toxic effects for human health, they could cause both physiological symptoms (respiratory problems, nausea, headache) and psychological stress (Schiffman, 1998). For this reason in the last decade the scientific community has been developing an increasing attention for odour pollution, generally caused by different types of industrial activities such as tanneries, refineries, slaughterhouses, distilleries, and above all civil and industrial wastewater treatment plants, landfills and composting plants. Moreover, the proximity of these industrial plants to residential areas really affects the acceptability of such activities causing population complaints (Nicell, 2009; Stuetz & Frechen, 2001; Yuwono & Lammers, 2004). This paper focuses on the necessity of a proper management for odour emissions during the processes and the critical phases of landfills, and on the development of a proposal for a guideline to evaluate odour emissions and odour impact. So, the methodological approach of the guideline is described and compared with those commonly adopted in odour regulations.