Int. J. Environmental Engineering, Vol. 3, Nos. 3/4, 2011 253 Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in leachates from municipal landfills Marzenna R. Dudzinska* and Jacek Czerwinski Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, 40B Nadbystrzycka Str., 20-618 Lublin, Poland Fax: + 48 81 5381 997 E-mail: m.dudzinska@wis.pol.lublin.pl E-mail: j.czerwinski@wis.pol.lublin.pl *Corresponding author Abstract: The leachates from six municipal waste landfills, located in South-eastern Poland, were studied for the presence of major, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) – PAHs, Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs)/Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDFs), Polychlorinated Dibenzothiophenes (PCDTs) and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The measured concentrations varied with respect to the particular compound and landfill, but POPs were present at measurable levels in the leachates from all the examined landfills. The highest concentrations were found in the leachate from the landfill collecting waste from the capital of the province. In the leachates from younger landfills, the concentrations of lower halogenated compounds were higher than those of higher substituted congeners. Lower condensed PAHs showed higher concentrations in samples from all the examined sites. Keywords: municipal waste landfill; leachates; POPs; persistent organic pollutants; PAHs; PCDDs; PCDFs; PCDTs; PBDEs. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Dudzinska, M.R. and Czerwinski, J. (2011) ‘Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in leachates from municipal landfills’, Int. J. Environmental Engineering, Vol. 3, Nos. 3/4, pp.253–268. Biographical notes: Marzenna R. Dudzińska received her MSc and PhD in Chemistry from Marie Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland. She was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Houston, USA. In 2004, she received her DSc in Environmental Engineering from Warsaw University of Technology. She is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Environmental Protection Engineering, Lublin University of Technology. She authored and co- authored 2 books and 85 papers and co-edited 8 books in the area of wastewater, solid waste and sewage sludge treatment and POPs in the environment. She is a member of Polish Chemical Society and Committee of Environmental Engineering of Polish Academy of Sciences. Jacek Czerwinski received his MSc in Chemistry from Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland, in 1990. In 1992–1993, he took scientific training in the Laboratory of Separation Techniques of the Organic Chemistry Department at the University of Ghent (Belgium). He received his PhD in Environmental Analytical Chemistry from Gdansk University of Technology