Illegal Landfills Research Articles

Graphene nanoplatelets on recycled rubber: an experimental study of material properties and mechanical improvements.

This study presents an experimental investigation of the mechanical behaviour of recycled rubber pads coated with graphene nanoplatelets. The investigation is part of an effort to develop a novel rubber-based composite that aims to reroute rubber from end-of-life tyres from illegal landfills and incineration back into the market in the form of a novel composite for vibration isolation. Graphene nanoplatelets were deposited on rubber pads via ultrasonic spray coating. The pads were made of a combination of recycled rubber (from tyres) and virgin rubber. A comprehensive analysis of the structural and chemical properties of the graphene coating, ensuring its integrity on the rubber substrate, was performed by combining surface topography, Raman and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Stacked coated pads were cured and tested dynamically in compression and shear under cyclic loading. Results showed promising improvements in the mechanical properties, in particular, in compressive stiffness and damping of the coated specimens with respect to their uncoated counterparts, laying the foundation for using graphene-enhanced recycled rubber as a novel composite.This article is part of the theme issue 'Celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Royal Society Newton International Fellowship'.

Towards Sustainable Modes for Remote Monitoring in Waste Management: A Study of Marginalized Urban Areas in Romania

Implementing circular and carbon-neutral waste management practices is essential for promoting environmental sustainability and public health. This is particularly critical in marginalized areas, where effective waste management strategies play a pivotal role in addressing environmental challenges, promoting community well-being, and fostering sustainable development. The article will explore waste management in marginalized urban areas in an integrated manner, exploring key European research domains: waste management, housing in informal settlements, and spatial information. We examined 37 Local Development Strategies (LDSs) for marginalized urban areas (MUAs) in Romania to determine whether they incorporate waste management measures. In addition, we used QGIS along with imagery accessible on the European Space Agency’s platform. This supplies Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite data. We referred to a specific urban area, namely the Municipality of Turda, selected from the endorsed LDS, where the illegal landfills are present. Based on the data presented in the LDS and confirmed with the in situ verification or remotely using street view platforms, we have determined that the identified areas indeed contain illegal waste deposits. To validate these findings, the methodology employed, along with observations and results from the Turda study area, can be extended to other territories and marginalized urban areas.

End-of-life waste management practices: A brief review

Effective management of construction and demolition waste is one of the key aspects of sustainable construction. As such, many studies have been conducted on waste management in construction in general, however, only a very few focusing on demolition or the end-of-life (EOL) phase of buildings. Understanding and managing EOL waste is important, e.g., to avoid illegal landfills, but critical to implement Circular Economy (CE) in construction. CE aims to create a regenerative built environment to make buildings more adaptable for the future and allows reclaiming of useable materials and components from old buildings to further use elsewhere, especially with the help of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Therefore, this study was designed to assess the construction industry awareness of EOL waste management, identify relevant issues/barriers, and a set of strategies to overcome those barriers and implement CE in construction. This paper specifically focused on the outcomes of a systematic literature review extracting relevant issues/barriers and strategies. A total of twenty-three barriers/issues in six groups and twenty-one strategies in four groups have been extracted. The six groups of issues/barriers are policy, sociological, expenses, technology, research and development, and time-related barriers. Among these, sociological barriers, particularly the lack of awareness, education, and publicity are perceived to be the major issues. Among the four groups of strategies, i.e. policy, organisational, technological, research, and development; Formulation of policies and setting goals specifically in achieving sustainable EOL waste management are mostly suggested/cited by previous authors than others. While a summarised discussion on these groups and individual factors will be presented in the paper, the next stage of the study is to refine the various factors and conduct a structured questionnaire survey of the construction industry participants, to tap experiential knowledge and suggestions.

Application of Recycled Steel Fibre in Malaysia: A Review

The amount of waste tyres is expected to increase with the surge of vehicle ownership in Malaysia as tyres are vehicle vital components that require regular replacement. The improper disposal of waste tyres has generated environmental issues. Energy recovery through burning, recycling, and disposal in legal and illegal landfills are common methods in disposing of waste tyres in Malaysia. Studies show that waste tyres contain steel fibre that can be extracted and has the potential to be used in construction. In Malaysia, existing methods of material recovery are shredding and pyrolysis. The steel retrieved from waste tyres exhibits good adhesion with mechanical strength recorded up to 2165 MPa and a modulus of 300. However, the uneven shape, length, and geometry can lead to a balling effect when incorporated into concrete but with a proper mix proportion this issue can be managed. Addition of recycled steel fibre to concrete can enhance its structural strength and crack-bridging effect while the use of recycled steel fibre in hot mix asphalt can enhance its tensile strength and toughness. The utilisation of steel recovered from waste tyres presents an opportunity to address environmental concerns related to waste tyre disposal and its potential applications.

Ispitivanje sastava zemljišta "divlje" deponije u gradu leskovcu i potencijalni ekološki rizici

The wild landfills management is a major environmental problem and cause for concern as solid waste is disposed of in an unregulated manner resulting in the creation of illegal landfills. Such illegal disposal of waste can lead to damage to the environment, contamination of the soil, and creation of leachate, which affects people's health. On the territory of the Jablanica district, there are currently 81 registered, unorganized, wild landfills. This paper analyses the soil contamination at the closed landfill on the territory of the city of Leskovac. The aim is to determine the quality of the soil, detect possible contamination, and identify potentially harmful materials in the examined samples. An increased concentration of aromatic hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was detected in the tested samples. It was established that the measured concentrations of various metals in the analyzed samples exceeded the maximum permissible values. This work provides useful information on further planning of remediation measures, closed landfill management, and environmental protection.

ОПЫТ ВЫЯВЛЕНИЯ НЕСАНКЦИОНИРОВАННЫХ СВАЛОК ПОСРЕДСТВОМ АНАЛИЗА СПУТНИКОВЫХ СНИМКОВ В РЕСПУБЛИКЕ КАЗАХСТАН

The autonomous non-profit organization «Center for Research and Solutions of Environmental Problems Ecopathology» conducted research of the territories of the city of Kostanay to identify unauthorized landfills of solid municipal, construction and other waste using the «Visual satellite search for illegal landfills» method in 2023. According to the methodology adapted for use in the Republic of Kazakhstan, 40 unauthorized landfills with a total area of more than 19 thousand m2 were identified in Kostanay and nearby territories. The paper presents an adapted algorithm for «Visual satellite search of illegal landfills», analysis of the results of the research and effective pollution prevention measures

LOCALLY CHARACTERISED REPETITIVE ILLEGAL LANDFILLS CLASSIFICATION

Illegal dumping of waste material is present in almost all local communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including in the areas of urban and rural local communities of the City of Tuzla. Uncontrolled waste dumping at the landfields, as the illegal dumping, are created by dumping different types of waste material in areas that are not intended for waste material disposal. These are areas that are usually next to roads with less traffic, or in the immediate vicinity of roads where access is possible for motor vehicles with a lower load capacity. Illegal landfills have a direct negative impact on the living environment from several aspects. Primarily, watercourses and soil are polluted, the ambient space is disturbed, and by attracting animals, there is the possibility of infections that are dangerous for the population. Waste materials in illegal landfills are often deliberately set on fire, which causes additional problems of air pollution with smoke and gases resulting from combustion, as well as the possibility of fire outbreaks, especially in forest areas. In the current practice, illegal waste landfills did not have scientific and professional interest because they are often of a temporary nature and were not considered interesting from the aspect of the scientific approach to defining landfills by different classifications. This paper defines the classification of illegal landfills in the spheres of data processing possibilities of interest for the treatment of illegal waste landfills, and the experimental definition of the classification was confirmed on the example of the recording and analysis of illegal waste landfills in the local community of Kiseljak, City of Tuzla in the phase of implementing the project „Inclusive development of Kiseljak community for improvement of social and economic aspect of citizens, emphasizing Roma population“, finance by Foundation of Tuzla community, Tuzla. The basis of the classification is made up of repetitive local waste landfills, while permanent regional waste landfills are not the subject of research and classification since there are already known classifications for permanent waste material landfills. Consent for the publication of the paper was given by the Tuzla Community Foundation, which financed the referral research within the project "Inclusive development of the Kiseljak community, for the improvement of the social and economic aspects of the citizens' life, especially the Roma", implemented by the Tuzla Community Foundation in partnership and financial support of the Freudenberg Foundation and the German Federal Ministry for External Development (BMZ).

Evaluation of Recycled Tyre Steel Fibres Effectiveness on the Properties of Concrete

Disposal of tire waste is a difficult task because tires are generally indestructible and have long lifetimes. Tire waste is managed via short-term solutions such as storing or dumping in illegal landfills. Tire recycling is a process where tires are recycled for reuse in vehicles; however, the recycled tires are not suitable for reuse because their recovery is difficult owing to faults such as holes. Thus, tires are the most problematic and largest source of waste owing to their high production and durability. Several tire recycling techniques that take advantage of various tire components have been implemented. This study focuses on the utilization of solid steel fibers are incorporated into a concrete tire frame. This is done to assess how well fibers work with reinforced concrete’s design. Additionally, concrete’s compressive strength was evaluated three times (0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%). The study’s findings are based on an examination of how tire-recycled steel fibers affect concrete strength and their use to enhance the strength of concrete. Concrete reinforcement with steel fibers results was compared with the traditional concrete reinforcement and it was found that the iron fibers present in the tires enhanced durability and strength of concrete.

COMMUNITY KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS ILLEGAL WASTE DISPOSAL: A CASE STUDY OF SUNGAI BESAR COASTLINE MANGROVES FOREST IN SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Mangroves around the world are under constant threat from household waste pollution. Illegal landfills were found at the Sungai Besar coastline mangrove forests near Kampung Baru Nelayan, Selangor, Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to gauge residents’ level of knowledge and perceptions on illegal waste disposal in mangrove forests. A total of 304 respondents participated in this study. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, non-parametric methods, and linear regression. The mean knowledge score was 0.70 ± 0.09 (range: 0-1), and the mean score for perception was 4.57 ± 0.47 (range: 1-5). Further analysis revealed that occupation played a significant role in determining measured knowledge and perception among the respondents (p-value < 0.01). Government employees were found to have higher knowledge and perception scores than unemployed residents. Targeted environmental education and conservation programs directed towards unemployed residents are recommended to increase their knowledge and perception of illegal waste disposal in mangrove forests.

Heavy metal concentrations in the soil near illegal landfills in the vicinity of agricultural areas—artificial neural network approach

PurposeTo anticipate the impact of illegal landfills, development of new models should become a part of environmental risk management strategies. One of such approaches includes applications of the artificial neural network (ANN). The main objective of this study was to elucidate the impact of illegal landfilling on the surrounding soil environment and human health, as well as to establish an artificial neural network (ANN) models for predicting the hazards of illegal landfilling as an effective tool in decision-making and environmental risk management.MethodsThe identification of heavy metals source in soil was performed by principal component analysis (PCA). To assess the sensitivity of the soil ecosystem to heavy metal concentrations, Soil Quality standards and quantitative indices were used. The possible health effects were valued using the average daily doses (ADDs), hazard quotient (HQ), hazard index (HI), and carcinogenic risk (CR). ANN modeling was used for the prediction of heavy metal concentrations in the soil based on landfill size, municipality size, the number of residents, plant species, soil, and landform types.ResultsThe average values of the pollution indexes for Cd were in the moderately contaminated and very high contamination categories. The HQ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$HQ$$\\end{document} values were lower than the safe level. Cr and Pb posed a significant CR\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$CR$$\\end{document} for adults and children, and Ni for children. The ANN models have exhibited good generalization power and accurately predicted the output parameters with a high value of the coefficient of determination.ConclusionConcerning heavy metal concentrations, illegal landfills near agricultural soil have a significant impact on the soil ecosystem and people’s health. The developed ANN models can be applied generally to anticipate the heavy metal concentrations in soil, according to the before mentioned input parameters, with high accuracy.

The Safety Situation of Municipal Solid Waste Landfills in Hungary from a Disaster Management Perspective (Part 2)

Today, nearly seventy municipal solid waste landfills in Hungary fully comply with European Union directives. Experience has shown that some sites have not yet been recultivated and that there are several illegal landfills. Waste fires are a special area within disaster management that have not yet been legally regulated nor intervention procedures have been established. In the second half of the series of articles I will present the safety risks and fire intervention difficulties that arise specifically in connection with the landfill sites.

Analysis and Evaluation of Concentrations of Potentially Toxic Elements in Landfills in the Araucanía Region, Chile

This preliminary study focuses on three abandoned sites, located in the communes of Temuco, Villarrica, and Lonquimay, in the Araucanía Region, Chile. Two of the sites were classified as illegal landfills and one was a former landfill. Seventy-three surface samples were taken, of which 32 were from site S1, 20 were from site S2, and 21 were from site S3. The objectives of this study were (1) to establish the background values of trace metals present in soils through different statistical methods, (2) to determine the level of contamination and possible ecological risks in soils, and (3) to assess the health risk posed to children and adults from potentially hazardous elements (As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn). The data analyzed belong to a report presented by Chile’s National Environmental Centre (CENMA). An evaluation was carried out through a multivariate statistical analysis to determine the type of origin and association of the trace elements, and spatial distribution maps were generated to establish the behavior of the contents of heavy metals present in the sites studied. The background values for sites S1, S2, and S3 were obtained by the median + 2MADdian absolute deviation) method. These values varied in the range of 14,702–41,785 mg kg−1 for Al, 0.83–8.9 mg kg−1 for As, 29.2–77.2 mg kg−1 for B, 59.2–143 mg kg−1 for Ba, 10.1–22.8 mg kg−1 for Cd, 18.4–51.2 mg kg−1 for Co, 12.3–38.0 mg kg−1 for Cr, 47.8–76.6 mg kg−1 for Cu, 36,230–64,274 mg kg−1 for Fe, 0.02–0.05 mg kg−1 for Hg, 482–4396 mg kg−1 for Mn, 16.7–19.3 mg kg−1 for Ni, 1.0–17.6 mg kg−1 for Pb, 1.4–28.2 mg kg−1 for Se, 108–258 mg kg−1 for V, and 68.1–145 mg kg−1 for Zn. In terms of ecological risk, the geoaccumulation index (Igeo), enrichment factor (EF), and contamination factor (Cf) values for As and Se at site S1, As at S2, and Pb with As at S3 were the main elements indicating the highest contamination levels, as well as a higher number of samples with contaminated content. The Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) revealed that on average, there was a moderate ecological risk for S1 and S2 and a considerable ecological risk for S3; the main contributions were generated by As and Hg in S1 and S2, while, in S3, they were produced by Pb and As. In terms of the risk to human health, the risk was higher in children than in adults, with the ingestion route as the main source of risk. For adults, it was found that there was no likelihood that they would develop any adverse non-carcinogenic or carcinogenic health effects. In contrast, children were found to be more likely to sustain adverse health effects. Regarding the non-carcinogenic risk to children, the Co and As samples at S1, S2, and S3, and the Pb at site S3 showed values exceeding the non-carcinogenic-risk limit. Regarding the carcinogenic risk, all three sites studied had Cd samples that indicated a likelihood of children developing cancer from this heavy metal.

ANTHROPOGENIC TRANSFORMATION OF THE LYUTITSA RIVER BASIN

The Liutytsia is a typical small river of the Polissya part of the Volyn region. It flows through the territory of Rozhyshche and Kopachivka united territorial communities. The river is 37 km long, with a catchment area of 208 km2, 3.6% forest cover, 1.4% marshland, and 60.5% ploughed. About 10,000 people live within the basin. The territory has long been developed. Agricultural use predominates. Specialisation: growing potatoes, cereals, industrial crops, dairy and meat farming and processing of agricultural products. In the structure of land use in the basin, 87.6% of the land is used for agricultural purposes. All land available for agricultural use has been ploughed and is actively used. Within the basin, the permissible land use limits are exceeded. This contributes to the aggravation of the environmental situation and requires the implementation of measures for the rational use of natural resources and nature protection. 8.8% of the basin's territory is occupied by settlements, industrial, transport, communications, etc. The basin's water resources are also actively used. Most of the water is used for water supply to the population, industry and agriculture. In a year of 95% runoff availability, total water withdrawals exceed 20% of the annual runoff, and irreversible water consumption in the basin is 15%. In the future, runoff shortages may become a problem in low-water years. The frequency of dry years has been increasing recently. The concentration of most chemicals in the river water does not exceed the maximum permissible concentration. The content of ammonium nitrogen exceeds the per capita values by 15.6 times in the first and 2.92 times in the river channel 2, nitrite nitrogen by 1.7 times and 1.91 times, respectively, and total iron by 16 times and 2.4 times. The excessive content of nitrogen compounds is caused by surface runoff from urban areas, fields, farms, and spontaneous solid waste dumps. The area of drained land within the basin is 8,606 thousand hectares, with a land reclamation rate of 41.4%. There are 5 drainage systems within the basin. Soil overdrainage is widespread within the basin's drainage systems, leading to loss of soil cohesion, loss of vegetation cover and deflation. With distance from the drainage network, water drainage is worse, there are waterlogged areas, rewetting occurs due to inefficient drainage channels that are silted and overgrown with vegetation. Some reclaimed areas have not been ploughed for many years and are overgrown with selfseeding. Hazardous exogenous processes are occurring within the basin: karst, secondary waterlogging, and siltation of the riverbed. Soils are also undergoing negative changes. Erosion processes are occurring, the depth of the humus horizon is decreasing, and the content of humus and plant nutrients is decreasing. Environmental problems in the basin include: violation of water protection zones, ploughing and rewetting of the floodplain; lack of hydroecological monitoring in the river basin; poor condition of drainage systems; lack of soilprotective technologies for growing crops, violation of recommendations for the use of drained land; illegal landfills in the basin; low forest cover, lack of protected areas within the basin, lack of an effective local ecological network.
 Keywords: river basin, geoecological state of the basin, sources of anthropogenic impact within the basin, anthropogenic transformation of the basin.

METHODOLOGY AND PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION STUDY THE CURRENT STATE OF DRAINAGE SYSTEMS IN VOLYN REGION (ON THE EXAMPLE THE OKONSKA DRAINAGE SYSTEM)

The article proposes a methodology for studying the current state of drainage systems using remote sensing methods and conducts a practical assessment of the current state of one of the typical drainage systems of Volyn region, namely the Okonska drainage system. The Okonska drainage system is a typical drainage system in Volyn region. It is quite large. Its area is 3130 hectares, including 1405 hectares drained by the pottery drainage. Therefore, a representative site in the east of the Okonska system, which surrounds the village of Kukly in a semicircle from the north, west and south, was selected for a detailed study. This section was put into operation in 1977. It consists of 9 reclamation canals and 52 drainage collectors with a total length of 41.45 km. Hayfields account for 42% of the structure of drained land in the study area, and pastures account for 67%. Arable land accounts for only 25%. That is, the scientifically-based requirements for the use of the system's land are mainly as hayfields and pastures with minimal ploughing and crop rotation. A detailed analysis of the current state of use of the drainage system's lands using remote sensing was carried out. It was found that currently, within a representative area, 45.8% of the land is not used in accordance with the designers' recommendations. This is most often due to ploughing of hayfields and pastures. However, some fields (No. 1-3, 12) also have this tendency: according to the designers' recommendations, they should be completely ploughed. However, flooding and waterlogging of certain parts of the fields cause them to be withdrawn from active cultivation, naturally becoming alkaline and overgrown with sparse shrubs. This is due to insufficiently effective field drainage, when excess water is not fully drained from the fields during spring floods. Only three fields have met the recommendations: fields 5, 14, 15. These fields are designated as pastures and hayfields. Their relief is complicated by numerous negative relief forms (saucer-shaped depressions). They are regularly flooded and constantly waterlogged, overgrown with sparse shrubs. Ploughing these fields is currently impossible or impractical. On all other fields, the designers' recommendations are partially or completely violated. Fields 13 (6.17%) and 6 (16.04%) have the lowest proportion of land use contrary to the project. These are partially ploughed pastures used as vegetable gardens. The worst situation is with the use of fields 8 and 11. These hayfields have been completely ploughed up. There are widespread deflationary areas in strips, and there are no mosses or overgrown shrubs. The current state of use of drained land has negative consequences: reduction of the area of agricultural land suitable for use, especially arable land, spread of unfavorable exogenous processes (flooding, rewetting, deflation, overgrowth of areas), depletion of peat soil horizons, excessive anthropogenic load, which causes soil degradation, pollution of surface runoff due to excessive ploughing, noncompliance with coastal protection zones, formation of illegal landfills, and changes in the carbon cycle.
 Keywords: reclamation, drainage reclamation, reclamation system, hydrotechnical structures, current state of use of drainage system lands, measures to improve the system's functioning and increase environmental safety.

Plastic pollution in Ambon Bay

Ambon has problems with plastic pollution, both in the rivers and the bay. Due to faults in the waste system, 60 tons of waste is not collected in Kota Ambon. This waste ends up in illegal landfills, the waste is burned or thrown in the water. The plastic pollution in the bay contributes to the global problem of plastic soup. Research was conducted based on question; which recommendations can be given to collect the floating plastics in the rivers around Ambon Market by using the litter traps. To answer the main question, sub-questions are drafted covering the sources of pollution, possible locations, and the possibilities for a trap. The research is conducted using different methods that is interview to local experts, observation, literature research and talks to residents. Most of the plastic found are single-use plastics, like water and food packaging materials. The most feasible location for a litter trap is the end of Batu Merah River due to the abundance of plastic, the depth, and the nearby presence of Speed Sampah. The concept litter trap showed that this device could be effective at Batu Merah River. Further research is needed to create a more definitive solution for plastic pollution. Several aspects must be taken into account, such as the circumstances like the rainy season, sedimentation, current, and tide can impact the working of the litter trap and should be considered during the designing process.

Features of legal regulation and management of municipal solid waste in Russia and Germany

The article provides a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of the sphere of circulation and use of municipal solid waste in the Russian Federation and the Federal Republic of Germany. The characteristics of the legal regulation of both countries in the field of waste management are given. Legal acts adopted in the European Union are the basis of German legislation in the field of waste management. Comparison of the legislative framework of Russia and Germany revealed their significant difference. Noteworthy is the lack of a clear hierarchy in the handling, disposal and processing of MSW. Attention is drawn to the huge number of illegal landfills and waste incineration sites in Russia. In our country, composting has not become widespread enough, and it is usually used by the population in individual houses or garden plots. However, the composting process can also be centralized and carried out at special sites, which are organic waste processing plants. The end product of this process is compost, which can be used in various agricultural applications. The main ways of improving the legal regulation in the field of waste management are proposed. In particular, it is recommended to develop a complete waste management strategy and a roadmap for its implementation. The waste management strategy in Russia should be based on a model that takes into account the specifics and cost-effectively combines the collection, transportation, processing, recycling and disposal of waste. It is necessary to create universal centers that unite enterprises for the collection, storage, recycling, processing and marketing of garbage and materials produced from waste coming from the largest cities of Russia. In the short term, the key goal is to solve the problem of the formation of illegal dumps, as well as landfills near large cities.

The health impact of hazardous waste landfills and illegal dumps contaminated sites: An epidemiological study at ecological level in Italian Region.

The implementation of idoneous management of hazardous waste, in contrast to illegal practices, is one of the environment and health priorities of the WHO. The aim of the present study, based on a collaborative agreement between the Italian National Health Institute and a Prosecution Office located in Naples North, was to evaluate the health effects of illegal landfills and burning of urban and hazardous waste in the territory of the Prosecution Office. The municipalities included in the study territory were investigated with respect to the regional population. Regression analyses were performed in the study area between four classes of an environmental municipal indicator of waste risk (MRI) previously defined, computing the relative risks (RRs) in 2-4 MRI classes, with respect to the first MRI class (the least impacted). The prevalence of reproductive outcomes and cause-specific mortality and hospitalization were analyzed in the general population and in the 0-19-year-old population using SAS software. An increase of mortality and hospitalization risk in both the genders of the whole area, with respect to regional population, were found for overall all cancer cases, cancer of the stomach, the liver, the lung and the kidney, and ischemic heart diseases. An increase of mortality for leukemias in the 0-19-year-old population and in hospitalization risk for certain conditions originating in the perinatal period were observed. Correlation between MRI and the risk of mortality from breast tumors in women (MRI class 2: RR = 1.06; MRI class 3: RR = 1.15; MRI class 4: RR = 1.11) and between MRI and the risk of hospitalization from testis tumors (MRI class 2: RR = 1.25; MRI class 3: RR = 1.31; MRI class 4: RR = 1.32) were found. The hospitalization risk from breast tumors and asthma exceeded significantly in both genders of three and four MRI classes. Among the 0-19-year-old population, correlation between MRI and hospitalization from leukemias (MRI class 2: RR = 1.48; MRI class 3: RR = 1.60; MRI class 4: RR = 1.41) and between MRI and the prevalence of preterm birth (MRI class 2: RR = 1.17; MRI class 3: RR = 1.08; MRI class 4: RR = 1.25) were found. A correlation between health outcomes and the environmental pressure by uncontrolled waste sites was found. Notwithstanding the limitation of the study, the results promote implementing the actions of environmental remediation and the prosecution of illegal practices.

Occurrence and congener profiles of dioxins (PCDDs), furans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in ovine and caprine milk samples collected in a very polluted site in Central Italy

Concentrations of 7 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), 10 polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and 18 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), including 12 dioxin-like (DL-PCBs) and 6 non-dioxin-like PCBs (NDL-PCBs) were measured in 16 ovine and caprine milk samples collected in the territory of Bussi sul Tirino, central Italy, a Site of National Interest (SNI) due to its high and widespread environmental pollution. All the analyzed samples were compliant with the maximum levels fixed by Commission Regulation (EU) 1259/2011 for the content of PCDD/Fs and the sum of PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs. In two cases, contamination levels of the sum of PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs were higher than the action levels fixed by EU Recommendation 663/2014. The statistical analysis, performed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA), revealed that the differences in contamination profiles of the different milk samples were independent of the distance of the farms from the Bussi illegal landfill but likely related to local emission sources influencing the exposure to POPs of studied animals.

AerialWaste dataset for landfill discovery in aerial and satellite images

Illegal landfills are sites where garbage is dumped violating waste management laws. Aerial images enable the use of photo interpretation for territory scanning and landfill detection but this practice is hindered by the manual nature of this task which also requires expert knowledge. Deep Learning methods can help capture the analysts’ expertise and build automated landfill discovery tools. However, this goal requires public high-quality datasets for model training and testing. At present no such datasets exist and this gap penalizes the research toward scalable and accurate landfill discovery methods. We present a dataset for landfill detection featuring airborne, WorldView-3, and GoogleEarth images annotated by professional photo interpreters. It comprises 3,478 positive and 6,956 negative examples. Most positive instances are characterized by metadata: the type of waste, its storage mode, the type of the site, and the evidence and severity of the illicit. The dataset has been technically validated by building an accurate landfill detector and is accompanied by a visualization and annotation tool.

Use of Open, Spatial and Satellite Data for the Purpose of Researching Landfills for Municipal

The present work traces the development of an illegal landfill near the town of Svoge in Bulgaria. After 2016, a waste management plan is prepared on the territory of the municipality and a decision is made to dispose of it by depositing it in a regional landfill for municipal waste in the town of Kostinbrod. The aim of the study is to trace the development of biochemical processes that took place on the territory of the former landfill and whether their impact continues to this day. Data from the Open Data Portal (https://data.egov.bg/), the National Spatial Data Portal INSPIRE (https://inspire.egov.bg/bg), satellite data and GIS, several spectral profiles and indices such as Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), Tasseled Cap Transformation (TCT) were used. Composite images from the multispectral instrument (MSI) of the Sentinel 2 platform and radar (SAR) from the Sentinel 1 platform of the Copernicus program of the European Space Agency were used. The surface temperature of the landfill was calculated using the heat channels from the Landsat 5-7 (ETM) and Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 (OLI / TIRS) sensors. A combination of radar and optical data was made. Data from different seasons and years were used in order to monitor the dynamics of thermal pollution in the study area. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the territory on which the landfill is located has been made. Last but not least, the role of high-value open data in environmental monitoring has been demonstrated, which will reduce the administrative burden of making responsible decisions for each smaller municipality and will be successfully implemented in future methodologies for improving Digital twins through technical work in Destination Earth (DestinE) and information about any point, area or globally significant territories.