Assessment of the risk to public health from soil contamination on the territory of solid waste landfills
Authors: Rybalova Olha , Artemiev Serhii , Brihada Olena , Ilinskyi Oleksii , Matsak Аnton 
Published: September 2024

Introduction. Domestic waste management is an extremely important issue for all countries of the world, especially for the countries of the former Soviet Union, as the current state of solid waste disposal in Ukraine is extremely unsatisfactory. According to the European Commission, the amount of waste in the European Union has increased in recent years to more than 2.5 billion tons per year. The results of the Waste Atlas report on the world's 50 largest landfills show that 64 million people are affected by the 50 largest landfills every day. Ukraine has a total of 6045 landfills and dumpsites. The general trend in Ukraine, in contrast to European countries, is a low level of recycling and utilization of solid waste and a high rate of landfill disposal. The vast majority of landfills (80 to 90%) operate in overload mode. Landfills, in particular solid waste landfills, are the main pollutants of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and soil. Therefore, determining the level of environmental hazard of heavy metals in the soil as a result of the impact of landfills and solid waste dumps is very important.

Objective. The purpose of the article is to determine the impact of solid waste landfills on public health due to soil contamination with heavy metals.

Methodology. In order to determine the level of environmental hazard of household waste storage at landfills and dumps, the paper assesses the risk to public health from soil contamination in the area of the Hrybovychi landfill (Lviv oblast), Rohan landfill (Kharkiv oblast), and Novovodolazhske landfill (Kharkiv oblast). The risk to public health from soil contamination at solid waste landfills was assessed using the traditional US EPA method and a new method for determining the potential risk to public health from soil contamination with heavy metals.

Results. The article compares two fundamentally different methodological approaches to determining the level of environmental hazard of soil contamination with heavy metals. The risk to public health from soil contamination on the territory of solid waste landfills according to the US EPA method corresponds to hazard class 5 (extremely high hazard level) according to all calculations. The results of the assessment of the potential risk to public health from soil contamination using the new method at solid waste landfills correspond to hazard classes 2-4. Comparison of methodological principles for assessing the risk to public health from soil pollution has shown the advantages of using the new method of potential risk assessment. The use of the new method of assessing the potential risk to public health from soil pollution will help improve science-based management of household waste and direct financial resources to reduce the environmental hazard of soil and land pollution in Ukraine.

Scientific novelty. The article presents an improved method for assessing the risk to public health from soil pollution, which represents the scientific novelty of the work

Practical significance. Determining the environmental hazard of soil pollution due to the impact of landfills and solid waste dumps makes it possible to prioritize the implementation of environmental protection measures and will contribute to the implementation of environmentally sound environmental management, so the research is of practical importance.