The Influence of a Fire at an Illegal Landfill in Southern Poland on the Formation of Toxic Compounds and Their Impact on the Natural Environment

Wojciech Rykała, Monika J. Fabiańska and Dominika Dąbrowska ()
Additional contact information
Wojciech Rykała: Faculty of Natural Sciences, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Będzińska 60 Str., 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland
Monika J. Fabiańska: Faculty of Natural Sciences, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Będzińska 60 Str., 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland
Dominika Dąbrowska: Faculty of Natural Sciences, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Będzińska 60 Str., 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-22

Abstract: Landfill fires pose a real threat to the environment as they cause the migration of pollutants to the atmosphere and water sources. A greater risk is observed in the case of wild landfills, which do not have adequate isolation from the ground. The aim of this article is to present the results of studies on the toxicity of waste from a fire in a landfill in Trzebinia (southern Poland). Both soil and waste samples were investigated. The samples were analyzed using the GC-MS method and the leachates using ICP-OES. A total of 32 samples of incinerated waste and soil were collected. The organic compounds included naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, acenaphthene, acenaphthylene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo (c) phenanthrene, benzo (a) anthracene, chrysene, benzo (ghi) fluoranthene, benzo (b + k) fluoranthene, benzo (a) fluoranthene, benzo (c) fluoranthene, benzo (a) pyrene, benzo (e) pyrene, perylene, indeno[1,2,3-cd] pyrene, benzo (ghi) perylene, and dibenzo (a + h) anthracene. Among the inorganic parameters, sulfates, chlorides, arsenic, boron, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc were taken into account. Phenanthrene reached values exceeding 33 mg/L. Fluoranthene dominated in most of the samples. Sulfates and chlorides were present in the samples in concentrations exceeding 400 and 50 mg/L, respectively. Compounds contained in burnt waste may have a negative impact on soil and water health safety. Therefore, it is important to conduct research and counteract the negative effects of waste fires.

Keywords: landfill; fire; contamination; PAHs; leachate; gas chromatography (GC-MS) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13613/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13613/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13613-:d:948313

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().