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      Health and Environmental Risks of Residents Living Close to a Landfill: A Case Study of Thohoyandou Landfill, Limpopo Province, South Africa

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          Abstract

          The by-products of solid waste deposited in a landfill has adverse effects on the surrounding environment and humans living closer to landfill sites. This study sought to test the hypothesis that the deposition of waste on landfill has an impact on the surrounding environment and residents living closer to it. This was achieved by evaluating the perception of the respondents drawn from people living close (100–500 m) and far (1–2 km) from the landfill site, concerning environmental issues, health problems, and life satisfaction. Results from the study showed that 78% of participants living closer to the landfill site indicated serious contamination of air quality evident from bad odours linked to the landfill site. Illnesses such as flu, eye irritation and weakness of the body were frequently reported by participants living closer to the landfill than those living far from the landfill. More than half of the participants (56%) living closer to the landfill indicated fear of their health in the future. Thus, the participants living closer to the landfill site were less satisfied with the location of their community with respect to the landfill, than those living far from the landfill site. Therefore, the need for a landfill gas (LFG) utilisation system, proper daily covering of waste and odour diluting agents are necessary to reduce the problems of the residents living closer to the landfill site.

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          Most cited references59

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          Health effects of residence near hazardous waste landfill sites: a review of epidemiologic literature.

          M Vrijheid (2000)
          This review evaluates current epidemiologic literature on health effects in relation to residence near landfill sites. Increases in risk of adverse health effects (low birth weight, birth defects, certain types of cancers) have been reported near individual landfill sites and in some multisite studies, and although biases and confounding factors cannot be excluded as explanations for these findings, they may indicate real risks associated with residence near certain landfill sites. A general weakness in the reviewed studies is the lack of direct exposure measurement. An increased prevalence of self-reported health symptoms such as fatigue, sleepiness, and headaches among residents near waste sites has consistently been reported in more than 10 of the reviewed papers. It is difficult to conclude whether these symptoms are an effect of direct toxicologic action of chemicals present in waste sites, an effect of stress and fears related to the waste site, or an effect of reporting bias. Although a substantial number of studies have been conducted, risks to health from landfill sites are hard to quantify. There is insufficient exposure information and effects of low-level environmental exposure in the general population are by their nature difficult to establish. More interdisciplinary research can improve levels of knowledge on risks to human health of waste disposal in landfill sites. Research needs include epidemiologic and toxicologic studies on individual chemicals and chemical mixtures, well-designed single- and multisite landfill studies, development of biomarkers, and research on risk perception and sociologic determinants of ill health.
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            Impact of nitrogen oxides on the environment and human health: Mn-based materials for the NO x abatement

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              Health risk assessment of BTEX emissions in the landfill environment.

              This study focuses on a health risk assessment related to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and m,p,o-xylene (xylenes) (BTEX) exposure via inhalation for workers at a landfill (LF) site. First, the landfill gas (LFG) samples were collected and analyzed accordance with US EPA method TO-17. The mean concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes were determined as 140.3, 1271.7, 239.9, and 341.3 microg/m(3), respectively. Then, a risk assessment methodology was employed to evaluate the potential adverse health effects of the individual BTEX compounds according to their carcinogenicities. The corresponding mean cancer risk for benzene was estimated to be 6.75E-05 that is lower than the designated acceptable risk level of 1.0E-04. With respect to mean non-carcinogenic risks for toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes, both individually and cumulatively, they were lower than the specified level of 1.0. These findings reveal that landfill BTEX emissions do not pose a health threat to workers at the landfill site. In addition, as far as the risks are concerned for the population in the neighborhood area of the landfill, air dilution of BTEX emitted from LF site is widely sufficient to guarantee their protection. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                ijerph
                International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
                MDPI
                1661-7827
                1660-4601
                15 June 2019
                June 2019
                : 16
                : 12
                : 2125
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Ecology and Resource Management, University of Venda, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa
                [2 ]Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Venda, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa; Joshua.edokpayi@ 123456univen.ac.za (J.N.E.); John.odiyo@ 123456univen.ac.za (J.O.O.)
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: pnjoku26@ 123456yahoo.com
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2550-3988
                Article
                ijerph-16-02125
                10.3390/ijerph16122125
                6617357
                31208082
                ed6120e8-f500-4e99-b3af-0281213cf868
                © 2019 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 09 April 2019
                : 30 May 2019
                Categories
                Article

                Public health
                environmental risk,landfill site,perception,public health,waste disposal
                Public health
                environmental risk, landfill site, perception, public health, waste disposal

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