Environmental Pollution with Heavy Metals: Case Study of the Household Waste

Abstract

This study is dedicated to the assessment of the heavy metals pollution of environment through analysis of the heavy metals sources and the measuring their concentrations in leachate and soil near landfills. Main sources of heavy metals in the household waste are identified. The environmental pollution with some heavy metals (Cr, Pb, Cd, Ni) was assessed. Soil contamination by heavy metals near the landfills was analyzed by measuring their concentrations in the soil on different distances the landfill. The limit exceeding was not observed for any heavy metal. Only cadmium has demonstrated a strong correlation be-tween the distance the landfill and the concentration. The research also con-firms depending of heavy metals migration on the landfill conditions and on its compliance with requirements. Also, heavy metals concentrations are defined in the leachate collected using the landfill-simulating reactors. Heavy metals con-tent was identified as high. Higher concentrations are found more organic fraction is present in the waste. There are conditions inside the reactors, espe-cially acidity, which are crucial at the early stages. Further, a significant impact can be caused by unequal distribution of heavy metals in the waste body. Due to accelerated water regime in the reactors, the heavy metals concentrations in a landfill leachate are predicted up to 50-55 years. Forecast shows multiple (2-18 times) exceeding the allowable concentrations of all heavy metals, even after long-time landfill usage.