Environmental Research 191 (2020) 110068 Available online 23 August 2020 0013-9351/© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. The concentration of BTEX compounds and health risk assessment in municipal solid waste facilities and urban areas Fatemeh Yousefian a , Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand b , Ramin Nabizadeh Nodehi a, b , Heresh Amini c, d , Noushin Rastkari b , Mina Aghaei a , Masud Yunesian a, e, ** , Kamyar Yaghmaeian a, f, * a Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran b Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran c Environmental Epidemiology Group, Section of Environmental Health, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark d Department of Environmental Health, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA e Department of Research Methodology and Data Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran f Center for Solid Waste Management (CSWM), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Volatile organic compounds Municipal solid waste Exposure Benzene Health risk ABSTRACT In this study, human exposure to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes (BTEX), along with their respective risk assessment is studied in four major units (n = 14-point sources) of the largest municipal solid waste management facilities (MSWF) in Iran. The results were compared with four urban sites in Tehran, capital of Iran. Workers at the pre-processing unit are exposed to the highest total BTEX (151 μg m  3 ). In specific, they were exposed to benzene concentrations of 11 μg m  3 . Moreover, the total BTEX (t-BTEX) concentrations measured over the conveyor belt was 198 μg m  3 at most, followed by trommel (104), and active landfills (43). The mean con- centration of ambient t-BTEX in Tehran is 100 μg m  3 . On average, xylenes and toluene have the highest con- centrations in both on-site and urban environments, with mean values of 24 and 21, and 41 and 37 μg m  3 , respectively. Even though the non-carcinogenic risk of occupational exposure is negligible, BTEX is likely to increase the chance of carcinogenic risks (1.7E-05) for workers at the pre-processing unit. A definite carcinogenic risk of 1.3E-04, and non-carcinogenic effect, of HI = 1.6 were observed in one urban site. With the exception of the pre-processing unit, the citizens of Tehran had higher exposure to BTEX. Overall, BTEX concentrations in the largest MSWF of Iran remains an issue of public health concern. 1. Introduction By the year 2050, the world is expected to generate 3.40 billion tons of waste annually, demonstrating a drastic increase from today’s 2.01 billion tons (Kaza et al., 2018). Increasing the generation of MSW and its unsustainable management is as one of the most challenging environ- mental issues that received increasing social and environmental atten- tion in developed and developing countries (Domingo and Nadal, 2009; Aatamila et al., 2011; Heaney et al., 2011; He et al., 2015; Zhao et al., 2015; Domingo et al., 2020). In developing countries, solid wastes are likely to increase due to non-source-separation and improper classifi- cation, inappropriate substance consumption pattern and inefficient integrated waste management (Liu et al., 2016; Kaza et al., 2018; Mousavi et al., 2017). Due to insufficient observation data, the potential health effects of emissions from MSWF in communities maybe neglec- ted.(Liu et al., 2016; Kaza et al., 2018). Despite strict restrictive condi- tions to reduce emissions from solid waste treatment facilities, conflicts and concerns from unpleasant odors, exposure to hazardous air pollut- ants (HAPs), and potential health risks through inhalation for on-site workers and nearby living people are remaining (Liu et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2018). Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are produced at different stages of handling and treating technologies of MSW by mi- crobial activity during anaerobic and aerobic degradation of wastes, biochemical reactions, volatilization and evaporation (An et al., 2014; * Corresponding author. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. ** Corresponding author. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. E-mail addresses: Yunesian@tums.ac.ir (M. Yunesian), KYaghmaeian@gmail.com (K. Yaghmaeian). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envres https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.110068 Received 29 May 2020; Received in revised form 1 August 2020; Accepted 1 August 2020