The impact of leachate collection on air quality in landfills

The VOC in ambient air at a landfill site which received both municipal and industrial non hazardous waste was investigated and 33 VOC were identified with 11 of the most hazardous compounds targeted for quantification. This study compared two cells of a landfill, with and without leachate collection, and there were persistent elevated levels of hazardous compounds in the ambient air at the cell with a leachate pool. VOC levels were 5–13 times higher than the expected values for a typical rural location and included 1,1,1-trichloroethane (< 27.7 μg/m3), tetrachloroethene (< 100 μg/m3) and toluene (< 308 μg/m3). However, benzene constituted a potential health hazard with 75% of these samples containing levels in excess of guideline limits and with a maximum recorded level of 166 μg/m3.