impact assessment of open combustion of municipal
IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF OPEN COMBUSTION OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSW) THROUGH BIOMONITORING OF DIOXIN CONCENTRATION IN PINE TREES NEEDLES IN AN URBAN SITE IN AMMANJORDAN A. HADDAD*, S. MOQBEL** * Department of Civil Engineering, American University of Madaba, P.O.Box: 2882 Amman 11821 Jordan ** Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942
SUMMARY: This study aims at assessing the human health impact of MSW open burning in one of Amman’s suburbs through monitoring the accumulated dioxin concentration in needles of pine trees. Waste composition will be analysed to quantify the potency of the emissions generated from waste open combustion. Dioxin concentrations will serve as an indicator of air pollution resulting from MSW open burning. The effect of topographical and meteorological factors on the pollutant accumulation will also be considered through observing the variation in dioxin concentrations in needles of pine trees over a relatively wide area.
1. INTRODUCTION One of the main issues of uncontrolled open burning of MSW is the incomplete combustion of waste of fossil origin like plastic, rubber, and certain type of textiles, which is 15% of the MSW composition in Amman [Official documents of the Greater Amman Municipality 2016], producing harmful air pollutants including fine particles, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, and dioxins. Thorough investigation of MSW open burning emission factors of hazardous elements has been carried out. Lutes et al. (1998) measured the emissions of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds, metals, acid gases, respirable particulates that were generated from open burning of designed waste samples that simulated solid waste of both an avid waste recycler and a nonrecycler. Gullet et al. (2001) assessed the polychlorinated dibenzodioxin and dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) emissions from uncontrolled domestic waste open burning. Lemieux et al. (2004) provides and compares available emission factors in literature of volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), Non-PAH semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC), carbonyl and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofuran
Proceedings Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium/ 2 - 6 October 2017 S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy / © 2017 by CISA Publisher, Italy
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
(PCDD/F) from open burning of different types of solid wastes. Lemieux et al. (2000) tested the variation in dioxin emissions from MSW open burning and concluded that emission factors are greatly dependent on both waste characteristics and variables related to the combustion process of MSW. Young et al. (2013) evaluated emission factors for particulate matter, heavy metals, and PAHs from irregular open burning of solid waste samples that were representative of that of a residential area in Korea. Didin and Nguyen (2013) evaluated emission factors from open burning of typical Indonesian MSW. Previous studies evaluated emission factors of toxic chemicals under controlled laboratory conditions. The effect of site specific meteorological and topographical conditions on the transport, dispersion and accumulation of emitted chemicals from MSW open burning, however, have not been explored comprehensively. Biomonitoring allows direct and accurate assessment of the degree of health risk associated with exposure to any type of air pollution under highly specific local conditions through pollutant accumulated concentration measurements in sensitive organisms. Maatoug et al. (2012) measured the accumulation of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu) from traffic emissions in an Algerian town on leaves of rootless plants; Platanus acerofolia, Cypress evergreen Cupressus sempervirens, and Xanthoria parietina. Olajire and Ayodele (2003) investigated the levels of heavy metals pollution from automobile parking lots in the second largest city in Nigeria on leaves and barks from different types of nearby trees. However, Cruz et al. (2013) found that there is no sufficient evidence that Lead levels in soil actually affect that in plant tissues; by comparing Lead concentrations in leaves of the same species and age grown in two opposite environments (a clean and a heavily polluted city in Philippines). Pourkhabbaz et al. (2010) found that air pollution not only is evident in high levels of pollutants concentrations in plant tissues, but that the leaves anatomy is actually altered (lower leaf size and stomata density), by analyzing leaves properties and heavy metals concentrations in leaves for trees exposed to high density traffic in Iran. Amman is a rapidly growing city that grew from a population of 1,000 in 1890 to a population of 4,000,000 in 2015. This is mainly due to surges of refugees that fluxed into Jordan at numerous occasions because of the volatile political conditions of neighboring countries. Solid waste management infrastructure in Amman is always trying to meet the needs of the ever growing numbers of the city’s residents. About 90% of Jordan’s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is collected, 93% of which is being landfilled, and the remaining 7% being recycled [Country report on the solid waste management in JORDAN 2014]. Recycling mostly takes place on the site of the landfill, carried out by subcontractor companies; however, a good portion of recycling is taking place informally. Illegal material recovery of MSW is being carried out by scavengers. The main method of recovery is open burning of mixed MSW which turns organic and plastic waste into ashes and gasses and leaves iron, aluminum, and copper. Various metals can then be sold as scrap in the black market. Also, MSW regular combustion is the most convenient waste management option for communities of scavengers. Open burning of MSW takes place in large metallic waste containers provided by the Great Amman Municipality near the residential areas, and in certain spots of undeveloped land in the suburbs of Amman, where MSW is being illegally collected and dumped. In order to generate feasible quantities of recovered material, large amounts of MSW have to be burned on daily basis.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
This study aims at assessing the human health impact of MSW open burning in one of Amman’s suburbs through monitoring the accumulated dioxin concentration in needles of pine trees. Waste composition will be analyzed to quantify the potency of the emissions generated from waste open combustion. Dioxin concentrations will serve as an indicator of air pollution resulting from MSW open burning. The effect of topographical and meteorological factors on the pollutant accumulation will also be considered through observing the variation in dioxin concentrations in needles of pine trees over a relatively wide area. Also, the waste composition will be analyzed for future comparison with other types of waste 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 The site The total area of this study is 2 km2 located in the middle of an urban neighborhood of low traffic and no industrial activity. The area consists only of residential 3-story buildings, separate one-floor residential houses, schools, and empty undeveloped land (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Study Site in an Urbanized Location in Amman-Jordan The socio-economic status of this neighborhood is considered to be upper middle class. At the middle of the site, there is a 0.045 km2 empty area (Source Area) laying on top of a hill where regular open burning sessions of MSW take place. The open burning occurs at random spots within the Source Area depending on the collection and piling of waste. Since the source of emissions varies within a small area relative to the neighborhood’s affected area, the emissions will be considered that of a point source. The topography of Source Area has elevations that range from 1052 m to 1070 m above sea level. The areas south of the source area are lower, while the areas located east, west, and north of the source area are higher. The Source Area is surrounded by pine trees from all four directions which provide the scavengers
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
with a non-exposed appropriate location to conduct their daily tasks of piling and burning solid waste. Wind direction is WNW on average. Amman has a continental climate where winters are cold and summer is dry and hot. Two control sites have been chosen to provide reference dioxin concentrations. Control site (C1) is 40 km west of the Source Area to collect background dioxin concentrations in pine trees needles in Amman. The control site C1 is located in the middle of 3km2 forest that experiences no traffic or solid waste open burning. Control site (C2) is a similar socio-economical residential neighborhood that does not suffer from MSW open burning; to provide dioxin concentration base line in pine trees needles caused exclusively by traffic. 2.2 The Municipal Solid Waste On average, five sessions of open burning take place daily in the Source Area between 8AM and 10PM. The burning process depends mainly on MSW illegally collected from waste containers located at several points within the site. The generated waste composition is highly dependent on the demographic characteristics and life style of the assessed region. To characterize the quality of waste generated at this specific area in Amman, three random MSW containers at different representative parts of the site were sampled; 3-story residential building (B), 1-floor house (H), and a school (S). To account for variation in waste characteristics along the span of the week, sampling was carried out twice; once during weekdays (WD), and another one during weekends (WE). Sampling of waste was carried out according to the ASTM D523192 standard for determining the composition of unprocessed MSW. Samples of pine needles were all taken during the month of June at heights 4 to 5 meters above the street level, from trees of almost the same age. Samples from several distances in all four directions from the Source Area were collected; at 0, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1000 m away from Source Area. To provide the dioxin concentration base line in pine needles located in unpolluted areas a sample was taken from a forest 40 km west of the Source Area. To provide the dioxin concentration base line in pine needles caused exclusively by traffic, a sample was taken from another socio-economically similar residential neighborhood that does not suffer from MSW open burning. Determination of dioxin was based on the USEPA Method 1613 (1994) using both highresolution gas chromatography (HRGC) and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). Needle samples were collected in clean dry paper bags. Samples were then dried and ground into fine particles passing a 0.85 mm sieve. The cumulative concentration of dioxin was expressed as dioxin toxicity equivalents (TEQ), calculated according to the WHO-TEF 2005 (Van den Berg et al., 2006).
3. RESULTS AND DUSCUSSION 3.1 Solid Waste Composition To account for the variation in composition of waste during the week, a weighted average value for the percentage of each component of waste was calculated using Equation (1):
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
(1) Where: Wc%: percentage weighted average of waste component Wcwd: weight of waste component sampled on a weekday Wcwe: weight of waste component sampled on the weekend Wtwd: total weight of waste sampled on a weekday Wtwe: total weight of waste sampled on the weekend
Waste compositions for the three types of waste sources are shown in Figures below (Figure 2, 3, and 4).
Figure 2. Waste Composition sampled from a Residential House
Figure 3. Waste Composition sampled from a Residential Building.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Figure 4. Waste Composition sampled from a School. Waste composition was characterized by high organic content which is typical of Jordan’s waste composition. On the other hand, waste samples had a relatively high plastic (fossil organic) content when compared to Jordan’s waste composition. Plastic content was mainly due to PET water bottles and cleaning detergents containers. Plastic content in waste acts as a fuel that spontaneously drives forward the open burning of piles of waste, and is also the chief source of dioxin.
3.2 Dioxin Concentrations All needles samples showed higher dioxin concentration than that of Pine needle concentration from a similar site that does not suffer from open MSW burning. Highest dioxin concentration was found in needles of pine trees immediately east of the source area of as high as 34.21 ng TEQ/kg. Relatively high dioxin concentration resulting from MSW open burning was detected even in samples located as far as 1km south and east of the source area. These concentrations suggest a correlated high dioxin concentration in ambient air in the affected area. Pine trees located further east and south of the source area showed less dioxin concentration in their needles; mainly due to the diffusion of emissions in a direction perpendicular to the wind direction. Due to the combined effect of wind direction and topography, all samples east of the source area exhibited the highest dioxin concentration. Samples taken up to 300m north and east of the source area suffered from elevated dioxin concentration. However, samples taken at 500m and above north and west of the source site exhibited approximately the same dioxin concentrations found in locations in Amman that does not suffer from MSW open burning and are exposed only to traffic. Pine needles in Control site (C2) showed higher concentration of dioxin than needles of pine trees in Control site (C1), mainly because of the traffic emissions that Control site (C1) does not experience. The Tables below (Table 1, 2, and 3), and Figure 5 show the dioxin concentrations measured in pine needle samples collected at increasing distances from the source area.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Distance (m)
ng TEQ/kg
Distance (m)
S
ng TEQ/kg
E
S-0
15.46
E-0
34.21
S-100
10.87
E-100
24.69
S-200
6.88
E-200
14.83
S-300
3.97
E-300
8.08
S-500
1.47
E-500
2.93
S-1000
1.47
E-1000
2.82
Table 1. Dioxin Concentrations in Pine Trees’ Needles at Varying Distances South and Eest of the Source Area.
Distance (m)
ng TEQ/kg
Distance (m)
N
ng TEQ/kg
W
N-0
3.56
W-0
2.76
N-100
2.48
W-100
2.5
N-200
1.86
W-200
1.59
N-300
1.56
W-300
1.49
N-500
1.47
W-500
1.47
N-1000
1.47
W-1000
1.47
Table 2. Dioxin Concentrations in Pine Trees’ Needles at Varying Distances North and West of the Source Area.
Control Sample
ng TEQ/kg
C1
0.02
C2
1.46
Table 3. Dioxin Concentrations in Pine Trees’ Needles at Two Control Sites
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Figure 5. Dioxin Concentrations in Pine Trees’ Needles at Varying Distances from Source Area.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Open combustion of MSW clearly affects a relatively large surrounding area with a variety of harmful emissions to human health. Although this research focuses only on the detection of dioxin emissions, it in fact aims at implicitly quantifying the impact of incomplete combustion of MSW in densely populated urban areas. Relatively high concentrations of dioxin in pine needles indicates high levels of exposure to dioxin available in ambient air, which suggests presence of other chemicals, produced by open burning of plastic-containing solid waste, in alarming concentrations. Dioxin concentrations were used as an indicator of air pollution caused by MSW open burning. Needles of pine trees proved to function as sensitive bio-indicators of dioxin by accumulating dioxin into their leaf tissues. However, further research should be carried out to determine the passages through which dioxin can reach the leaves, by examining dioxin concentrations in soil samples and both rain and irrigation water. Wind direction resulted in emissions tending to flow more into the east parts of the source area than the south parts. This was manifested in dioxin concentrations in needles samples taken east of the source area being almost double of those in needles samples taken from south of the source area. Also, wind direction stretched the distance to which the pollution effect extended; above average dioxin measurements were still detected 1km east of the source area, while they only extend to 300m north, south, and west of the source area.
5. CONCLUSIONS A rapid and firm governmental intervention is required to avoid any related cancer incidents
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
in the residents of the site under study. Also, fumes and odors emitted from this illegal behavior is causing a decline in the market value of the houses, a lower rate of admission to the school located in the site, an overall general feeling of discomfort, as well as generating a distrust in the government’s’ sense of responsibility towards its people. This study, and for pure scientific reasons, should be extended to analyze samples of soil and tree bark for dioxin concentrations at varying distances from the source area.
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the American University of Madaba for their continuous support during this conference.
REFERENCES
ASTM D 5231 – 92, 2008, American Standard Test Method for Determination of the Composition of Unprocessed Municipal Solid Waste. Country report on the solid waste management in JORDAN 2014. Developed with the support of Mr.Ahmad G. Alhyasat and Mr.Zaidoun Al-Nsourand in close cooperation with the SWEEP-Net national coordinator Ms. Hajar Mustafa Majar. Cruz K, Burgos S., Gloria M., Ventura K., Solidum J. (2013). Comparison of Lead Absorption Ability of Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea Spectabilis L.) Leaves in Two Cities in Metro Manila, Philippines. International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Vol. 3, No. 3 Didin A.P., Nguyen T.Q. (2013). Assessment of biomass open burning emissions in Indonesia and potential climate forcing impact. Atmospheric Environment 78 250-258 Gullet B.K., Lemieux P.M., Lutes C.C., Winterrowed C.K., Winters D.L. (2001). Emissions of PCDD/F from uncontrolled, domestic waste burning. Chemosphere Volume 43, Issues 4–7, Pages 721–725 Lutes C.C., Lemieux P.M., Abbott J.A., Aldous K.M. (1998). Emissions of Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons From the Open Burning of Household Waste in Barrels. Paper to be presented at 13th annual international symposium on the measurement of tixic and related air pollutants, Cary, NC, September 1-3 Maatoug M., Taïbi K., Akermi A., Achir M., Mestrari M. (2012). Bio-Monitoring of Air Quality Using Leaves of Tree and Lichens in Urban Environments. Air Pollution - Monitoring, Modelling and Health. Official documents of the Greater Amman Municipality [2016]. Olajire A., Ayodele E. (2003). Study of Atmospheric Pollution Leaves by Trace Elements Analysis of Tree Bark and Leaves. Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 17(1), 11-17. Paul Lemeux P.M., Lutes C.C., Sanoianni D.A. (2004). Emissions of organic air toxics from open burning: a comprehensive review. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 30, 1–32 Paul M. Lemieux P.M., Gullett B.K., Lutes C.C., Winterrowd C.K., Winters D.L. (2000). Dioxin Formation: The Burn Barrel Study. For presentation at the Eighth Annual North American
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Waste-To-Energy Conference (NAWTEC VIII), May 22-24, Nashville, TN Pourkhabbaz A., Rastin N., Olbrich A., Langenfeld-Heyser R., Polle A. (2010). Influence of Environmental Pollution on Leaf Properties of Urban Plane Trees, Platanus orientalis L. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 85:251–255. USEPA, 1994. U.S. environmental protection agency, office of water engineering and analysis division, Method 1613 Tetra- through Octa-Chlorinated Dioxins and Furans by Isotope Dilution HRGC/HRMS. Young K.P., Wooram K., Young M.J. (2013). Release of Harmful Air Pollutants from Open Burning of Domestic Municipal Solid Wastes in a Metropolitan Area of Korea. Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 13: 1365–1372.
SUMMARY: This study aims at assessing the human health impact of MSW open burning in one of Amman’s suburbs through monitoring the accumulated dioxin concentration in needles of pine trees. Waste composition will be analysed to quantify the potency of the emissions generated from waste open combustion. Dioxin concentrations will serve as an indicator of air pollution resulting from MSW open burning. The effect of topographical and meteorological factors on the pollutant accumulation will also be considered through observing the variation in dioxin concentrations in needles of pine trees over a relatively wide area.
1. INTRODUCTION One of the main issues of uncontrolled open burning of MSW is the incomplete combustion of waste of fossil origin like plastic, rubber, and certain type of textiles, which is 15% of the MSW composition in Amman [Official documents of the Greater Amman Municipality 2016], producing harmful air pollutants including fine particles, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, and dioxins. Thorough investigation of MSW open burning emission factors of hazardous elements has been carried out. Lutes et al. (1998) measured the emissions of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds, metals, acid gases, respirable particulates that were generated from open burning of designed waste samples that simulated solid waste of both an avid waste recycler and a nonrecycler. Gullet et al. (2001) assessed the polychlorinated dibenzodioxin and dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) emissions from uncontrolled domestic waste open burning. Lemieux et al. (2004) provides and compares available emission factors in literature of volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), Non-PAH semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC), carbonyl and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofuran
Proceedings Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium/ 2 - 6 October 2017 S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy / © 2017 by CISA Publisher, Italy
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
(PCDD/F) from open burning of different types of solid wastes. Lemieux et al. (2000) tested the variation in dioxin emissions from MSW open burning and concluded that emission factors are greatly dependent on both waste characteristics and variables related to the combustion process of MSW. Young et al. (2013) evaluated emission factors for particulate matter, heavy metals, and PAHs from irregular open burning of solid waste samples that were representative of that of a residential area in Korea. Didin and Nguyen (2013) evaluated emission factors from open burning of typical Indonesian MSW. Previous studies evaluated emission factors of toxic chemicals under controlled laboratory conditions. The effect of site specific meteorological and topographical conditions on the transport, dispersion and accumulation of emitted chemicals from MSW open burning, however, have not been explored comprehensively. Biomonitoring allows direct and accurate assessment of the degree of health risk associated with exposure to any type of air pollution under highly specific local conditions through pollutant accumulated concentration measurements in sensitive organisms. Maatoug et al. (2012) measured the accumulation of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu) from traffic emissions in an Algerian town on leaves of rootless plants; Platanus acerofolia, Cypress evergreen Cupressus sempervirens, and Xanthoria parietina. Olajire and Ayodele (2003) investigated the levels of heavy metals pollution from automobile parking lots in the second largest city in Nigeria on leaves and barks from different types of nearby trees. However, Cruz et al. (2013) found that there is no sufficient evidence that Lead levels in soil actually affect that in plant tissues; by comparing Lead concentrations in leaves of the same species and age grown in two opposite environments (a clean and a heavily polluted city in Philippines). Pourkhabbaz et al. (2010) found that air pollution not only is evident in high levels of pollutants concentrations in plant tissues, but that the leaves anatomy is actually altered (lower leaf size and stomata density), by analyzing leaves properties and heavy metals concentrations in leaves for trees exposed to high density traffic in Iran. Amman is a rapidly growing city that grew from a population of 1,000 in 1890 to a population of 4,000,000 in 2015. This is mainly due to surges of refugees that fluxed into Jordan at numerous occasions because of the volatile political conditions of neighboring countries. Solid waste management infrastructure in Amman is always trying to meet the needs of the ever growing numbers of the city’s residents. About 90% of Jordan’s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is collected, 93% of which is being landfilled, and the remaining 7% being recycled [Country report on the solid waste management in JORDAN 2014]. Recycling mostly takes place on the site of the landfill, carried out by subcontractor companies; however, a good portion of recycling is taking place informally. Illegal material recovery of MSW is being carried out by scavengers. The main method of recovery is open burning of mixed MSW which turns organic and plastic waste into ashes and gasses and leaves iron, aluminum, and copper. Various metals can then be sold as scrap in the black market. Also, MSW regular combustion is the most convenient waste management option for communities of scavengers. Open burning of MSW takes place in large metallic waste containers provided by the Great Amman Municipality near the residential areas, and in certain spots of undeveloped land in the suburbs of Amman, where MSW is being illegally collected and dumped. In order to generate feasible quantities of recovered material, large amounts of MSW have to be burned on daily basis.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
This study aims at assessing the human health impact of MSW open burning in one of Amman’s suburbs through monitoring the accumulated dioxin concentration in needles of pine trees. Waste composition will be analyzed to quantify the potency of the emissions generated from waste open combustion. Dioxin concentrations will serve as an indicator of air pollution resulting from MSW open burning. The effect of topographical and meteorological factors on the pollutant accumulation will also be considered through observing the variation in dioxin concentrations in needles of pine trees over a relatively wide area. Also, the waste composition will be analyzed for future comparison with other types of waste 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 The site The total area of this study is 2 km2 located in the middle of an urban neighborhood of low traffic and no industrial activity. The area consists only of residential 3-story buildings, separate one-floor residential houses, schools, and empty undeveloped land (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Study Site in an Urbanized Location in Amman-Jordan The socio-economic status of this neighborhood is considered to be upper middle class. At the middle of the site, there is a 0.045 km2 empty area (Source Area) laying on top of a hill where regular open burning sessions of MSW take place. The open burning occurs at random spots within the Source Area depending on the collection and piling of waste. Since the source of emissions varies within a small area relative to the neighborhood’s affected area, the emissions will be considered that of a point source. The topography of Source Area has elevations that range from 1052 m to 1070 m above sea level. The areas south of the source area are lower, while the areas located east, west, and north of the source area are higher. The Source Area is surrounded by pine trees from all four directions which provide the scavengers
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
with a non-exposed appropriate location to conduct their daily tasks of piling and burning solid waste. Wind direction is WNW on average. Amman has a continental climate where winters are cold and summer is dry and hot. Two control sites have been chosen to provide reference dioxin concentrations. Control site (C1) is 40 km west of the Source Area to collect background dioxin concentrations in pine trees needles in Amman. The control site C1 is located in the middle of 3km2 forest that experiences no traffic or solid waste open burning. Control site (C2) is a similar socio-economical residential neighborhood that does not suffer from MSW open burning; to provide dioxin concentration base line in pine trees needles caused exclusively by traffic. 2.2 The Municipal Solid Waste On average, five sessions of open burning take place daily in the Source Area between 8AM and 10PM. The burning process depends mainly on MSW illegally collected from waste containers located at several points within the site. The generated waste composition is highly dependent on the demographic characteristics and life style of the assessed region. To characterize the quality of waste generated at this specific area in Amman, three random MSW containers at different representative parts of the site were sampled; 3-story residential building (B), 1-floor house (H), and a school (S). To account for variation in waste characteristics along the span of the week, sampling was carried out twice; once during weekdays (WD), and another one during weekends (WE). Sampling of waste was carried out according to the ASTM D523192 standard for determining the composition of unprocessed MSW. Samples of pine needles were all taken during the month of June at heights 4 to 5 meters above the street level, from trees of almost the same age. Samples from several distances in all four directions from the Source Area were collected; at 0, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1000 m away from Source Area. To provide the dioxin concentration base line in pine needles located in unpolluted areas a sample was taken from a forest 40 km west of the Source Area. To provide the dioxin concentration base line in pine needles caused exclusively by traffic, a sample was taken from another socio-economically similar residential neighborhood that does not suffer from MSW open burning. Determination of dioxin was based on the USEPA Method 1613 (1994) using both highresolution gas chromatography (HRGC) and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). Needle samples were collected in clean dry paper bags. Samples were then dried and ground into fine particles passing a 0.85 mm sieve. The cumulative concentration of dioxin was expressed as dioxin toxicity equivalents (TEQ), calculated according to the WHO-TEF 2005 (Van den Berg et al., 2006).
3. RESULTS AND DUSCUSSION 3.1 Solid Waste Composition To account for the variation in composition of waste during the week, a weighted average value for the percentage of each component of waste was calculated using Equation (1):
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
(1) Where: Wc%: percentage weighted average of waste component Wcwd: weight of waste component sampled on a weekday Wcwe: weight of waste component sampled on the weekend Wtwd: total weight of waste sampled on a weekday Wtwe: total weight of waste sampled on the weekend
Waste compositions for the three types of waste sources are shown in Figures below (Figure 2, 3, and 4).
Figure 2. Waste Composition sampled from a Residential House
Figure 3. Waste Composition sampled from a Residential Building.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Figure 4. Waste Composition sampled from a School. Waste composition was characterized by high organic content which is typical of Jordan’s waste composition. On the other hand, waste samples had a relatively high plastic (fossil organic) content when compared to Jordan’s waste composition. Plastic content was mainly due to PET water bottles and cleaning detergents containers. Plastic content in waste acts as a fuel that spontaneously drives forward the open burning of piles of waste, and is also the chief source of dioxin.
3.2 Dioxin Concentrations All needles samples showed higher dioxin concentration than that of Pine needle concentration from a similar site that does not suffer from open MSW burning. Highest dioxin concentration was found in needles of pine trees immediately east of the source area of as high as 34.21 ng TEQ/kg. Relatively high dioxin concentration resulting from MSW open burning was detected even in samples located as far as 1km south and east of the source area. These concentrations suggest a correlated high dioxin concentration in ambient air in the affected area. Pine trees located further east and south of the source area showed less dioxin concentration in their needles; mainly due to the diffusion of emissions in a direction perpendicular to the wind direction. Due to the combined effect of wind direction and topography, all samples east of the source area exhibited the highest dioxin concentration. Samples taken up to 300m north and east of the source area suffered from elevated dioxin concentration. However, samples taken at 500m and above north and west of the source site exhibited approximately the same dioxin concentrations found in locations in Amman that does not suffer from MSW open burning and are exposed only to traffic. Pine needles in Control site (C2) showed higher concentration of dioxin than needles of pine trees in Control site (C1), mainly because of the traffic emissions that Control site (C1) does not experience. The Tables below (Table 1, 2, and 3), and Figure 5 show the dioxin concentrations measured in pine needle samples collected at increasing distances from the source area.
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Distance (m)
ng TEQ/kg
Distance (m)
S
ng TEQ/kg
E
S-0
15.46
E-0
34.21
S-100
10.87
E-100
24.69
S-200
6.88
E-200
14.83
S-300
3.97
E-300
8.08
S-500
1.47
E-500
2.93
S-1000
1.47
E-1000
2.82
Table 1. Dioxin Concentrations in Pine Trees’ Needles at Varying Distances South and Eest of the Source Area.
Distance (m)
ng TEQ/kg
Distance (m)
N
ng TEQ/kg
W
N-0
3.56
W-0
2.76
N-100
2.48
W-100
2.5
N-200
1.86
W-200
1.59
N-300
1.56
W-300
1.49
N-500
1.47
W-500
1.47
N-1000
1.47
W-1000
1.47
Table 2. Dioxin Concentrations in Pine Trees’ Needles at Varying Distances North and West of the Source Area.
Control Sample
ng TEQ/kg
C1
0.02
C2
1.46
Table 3. Dioxin Concentrations in Pine Trees’ Needles at Two Control Sites
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
Figure 5. Dioxin Concentrations in Pine Trees’ Needles at Varying Distances from Source Area.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Open combustion of MSW clearly affects a relatively large surrounding area with a variety of harmful emissions to human health. Although this research focuses only on the detection of dioxin emissions, it in fact aims at implicitly quantifying the impact of incomplete combustion of MSW in densely populated urban areas. Relatively high concentrations of dioxin in pine needles indicates high levels of exposure to dioxin available in ambient air, which suggests presence of other chemicals, produced by open burning of plastic-containing solid waste, in alarming concentrations. Dioxin concentrations were used as an indicator of air pollution caused by MSW open burning. Needles of pine trees proved to function as sensitive bio-indicators of dioxin by accumulating dioxin into their leaf tissues. However, further research should be carried out to determine the passages through which dioxin can reach the leaves, by examining dioxin concentrations in soil samples and both rain and irrigation water. Wind direction resulted in emissions tending to flow more into the east parts of the source area than the south parts. This was manifested in dioxin concentrations in needles samples taken east of the source area being almost double of those in needles samples taken from south of the source area. Also, wind direction stretched the distance to which the pollution effect extended; above average dioxin measurements were still detected 1km east of the source area, while they only extend to 300m north, south, and west of the source area.
5. CONCLUSIONS A rapid and firm governmental intervention is required to avoid any related cancer incidents
Sardinia 2017 / Sixteenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium / 2 - 6 October 2017
in the residents of the site under study. Also, fumes and odors emitted from this illegal behavior is causing a decline in the market value of the houses, a lower rate of admission to the school located in the site, an overall general feeling of discomfort, as well as generating a distrust in the government’s’ sense of responsibility towards its people. This study, and for pure scientific reasons, should be extended to analyze samples of soil and tree bark for dioxin concentrations at varying distances from the source area.
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the American University of Madaba for their continuous support during this conference.
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