Abstract
The release of fine particles during mechanical landfill mining (LFM) operations is a potential environmental pollution and human health risk. Previous studies demonstrate that a significant proportion (40–80% wt) of the content of fine soil-like materials within the size range <10 mm to <4 mm recovered from such operations originate from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. This study evaluates the potential health risks caused by emissions from LFM activities. MSW samples recovered from the drilling of four different wells of a closed UK landfill were analysed for physical, chemical, and biological properties to determine the extent of potential contaminant emissions during LFM activities. The results show that fine particles (approximately ≤1.5 mm) accounted for more than 50% of the total mass of excavated waste and contained predominantly soil-like materials. The concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, As, and Cr exceed the permissible limits set by the current UK Soil Guideline Values. The highest geoaccumulation index and contamination factor values for Cu were 2.51 and 12.51, respectively, indicating a moderate to very high degree of contamination. Unsurprisingly, the pollution load index was >1, indicating the extent of pollution within the study area. The hazard quotient values indicated high exposure-related risks for Pb (16.95), Zn (3.56), Cd (1.47), and As (1.46) for allotment land use and As (1.96) for residential land use. The cancer-related risk values were higher than the acceptable range of 1.0 × 10−6 to 1.0 × 10−4. The cancer risk factor indicated that Cr and As were the major human health risk hazards.
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•Potentially toxic elements and organics associated with waste fine fractions.•Novel method for assessing potential human health risk of heavy metals achieved.•Landfill poses major risk to human health and environment if LFM occurs.•Pb highest contributor to the non-carcinogenic risk.•Cr most prominent metal with respect to carcinogenic effect.
Heavy metals; Municipal solid waste; Landfill mining; Pollution assessment; Human health risk assessment.