Influence of a municipal solid waste landfill in the surrounding environment: Toxicological risk and odor nuisance effects Marinella Palmiotto ⁎, Elena Fattore, Viviana Paiano, Giorgio Celeste, Andrea Colombo, Enrico Davoli Department of Environmental Health Sciences, IRCCS – Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milano, Italy abstract article info Article history: Received 25 October 2013 Accepted 4 March 2014 Available online 31 March 2014 Keywords: Municipal solid waste landfill Landfill gas Human health Toxicological risk Odor nuisance The large amounts of treated waste materials and the complex biological and physicochemical processes make the areas in the proximity of landfills vulnerable not only to emissions of potential toxic compounds but also to nuisance such as odor pollution. All these factors have a dramatic impact in the local environment producing environmental quality degradation. Most of the human health problems come from the landfill gas, from its non-methanic volatile organic com- pounds and from hazardous air pollutants. In addition several odorants are released during landfill operations and uncontrolled emissions. In this work we present an integrated risk assessment for emissions of hazard compounds and odor nuisance, to describe environmental quality in the landfill proximity. The study was based on sampling campaigns to acquire emission data for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, dioxin-like polychlorobiphenyls, poly- cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzene and vinyl chloride monomer and odor. All concentration values in the emissions from the landfill were measured and used in an air dispersion model to estimate maximum concentra- tions and depositions in correspondence to five sensitive receptors located in proximity of the landfill. Results for the different scenarios and cancer and non-cancer effects always showed risk estimates which were orders of magnitude below those accepted from the main international agencies (WHO, US EPA). Odor pollution was significant for a limited downwind area near the landfill appearing to be a significant risk factor of the dam- age to the local environment. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Waste treatment plants are now large complex realities where large amounts of waste materials are treated and where complex biological and physicochemical processes occur in a controlled environment. The impact produced by municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills has received special social and environmental attention in recent decades. Environmental degradation, landscape appearance, heavy traffic load, noise, dusts, fumes and odor emissions, render these facilities environ- mental stressor with negative impact on life quality of the surrounding communities (Downey and Van Willigen, 2005). Environmental in- equality studies show that waste facilities are disproportionally located in the areas where more deprived, or minority groups reside (Faber and Krieg, 2002; Forastiere et al., 2011; Martuzzi et al., 2010), with conse- quent unequal pollutant exposure. The scientific literature provides some indications of an association between adverse health effects and the residence distance from the landfill site but the level of epidemio- logical evidence is “inadequate” or “limited” (Porta et al., 2009; WHO, 2007) with a general lack of consistency in the results for cancer inci- dence and mortality studies (Jarup et al., 2002; Rushton, 2003). Despite the lack of univocal evidence on the health implications, people are con- cerned with potential toxic compounds and unpleasant odors produced by landfill gas (LFG) emissions, which include gases generated by the biodegradation of waste and those arising from chemical reactions or volatilization from waste (Environment Agency, 2004a). The LFG emis- sions mainly consist of methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor and trace amount on non-methane organic compounds (NMOCs) (Soltani- Ahmadi, 2000) which include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), haz- ardous air pollutants (HAPs) and odorous compounds, which in recent years, have been chemically characterized (Davoli et al., 2003; Fang et al., 2012). Communities living nearby landfills are directly exposed to chemicals through inhalation of LFG released during the waste degra- dation, but also to the combustion products (e.g. dioxins and dioxin- like compounds) that can be generated when LFG is burned in flares or for energy recovery (Environment Agency, 2004a). Ingestion of drinking water obtained from private wells contaminated by leachates, skin absorption and ingestion of contaminated soil particles, or inges- tion of home-grown products, are other possible exposure pathways to chemicals. Environment International 68 (2014) 16–24 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 02 39014534; fax: +39 02 39014735. E-mail address: marinella.palmiotto@marionegri.it (M. Palmiotto). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2014.03.004 0160-4120/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environment International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envint