Landfills across England could leak harmful toxic sludge, experts warn
Experts warn that thousands of contaminated landfills in England could leak toxic chemicals into the environment and harm local residents.
A few decades ago, the method of getting rid of industrial and household waste was to stick it in a hole in the ground, cover it and hope for the best. Known as ‘dilute and disperse’, it assumed that toxic substances would seep into the surrounding soil, air and water and become harmless.
There are over 21,000 of these ‘historic’ landfills in England, the contents of which are largely unknown. A report in the British Medical Journal found that 80% of the UK population lives within 2km of a functioning or closed landfill. The location of historic landfills and current waste sites can be viewed on a new one pollution map published by Watershed Investigations, along with thousands of other potentially polluted sites.
The landfills are not evenly distributed; an analysis of the government’s patchy historic landfill database by the Guardian and Watershed Investigations found that the most deprived parts of the country have five times more old landfills relative to their area than more affluent areas, and three times more operational landfills.
The forensic environmental scientist Dr. David Megson, an expert on contaminated land, said he was “not surprised that many of these sites are in less affluent areas. They are often left as public spaces because a developer would not be able to obtain planning permission to build houses there.” to be built due to the high level of chemical pollution.
“Many return to the town halls and it is not uncommon for children and teenagers to use these sites. These boys do not keep to the trails and only use the sites occasionally, they are regularly out exploring and digging in the ground, I have even seen evidence of people setting fire to ground gas monitoring wells due to the high concentrations of methane present.”
Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas and exposure to high levels of it can cause mood swings, slurred speech, vision problems, memory loss, nausea, vomiting, flushing and headaches. In severe cases, it can affect breathing and heart rate and cause balance problems, numbness, unconsciousness and even death.
Landfills are also known to leak a range of harmful substances into the environment, including banned toxic chemicals.
Environment Agency data obtained by the Guardian and Watershed Investigations reveals that long-lasting toxic carcinogens known as “forever chemicals” such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have recently been found in the sludge, known as leachate, from dozens of old and existing landfills, along with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and brominated diphenyl ether (BDE) flame retardants. In some cases the leachate is collected and treated, but this is not always the case.
“PFAS is virtually ubiquitous and is found in all (sampled) locations. NDEs are also quite common,” says Megson. “These are important because they have become increasingly pollutants over the past 20 years, compared to more traditional pollutants – such as heavy metals, PCBs and dioxins – that we have known about for much longer.
“Treatment procedures, if they are in place at these sites, are not designed to address PFAS and NDEs. We have only recently started monitoring these contaminants, so there could be many large historic landfills that were deemed safe under previous studies, but these studies did not test for PFAS or NDEs – so they could actually be considered contaminated soil if we tested them now.”
Environmental scientist Dr. Daniel Drage reviewed the data and noted that “the fact that we are seeing PFAS in landfills that have not received waste in 20 to 30 years, and are now seeing the highest levels, shows what a challenge we have in addressing this problem. Dealing with PFAS-contaminated waste is going to be a multi-billion dollar industry in the next five to 10 years, and landfill is simply not an appropriate method of disposing of it. There is ample evidence to show that PFAS is not going to stay in landfills, and that much of it would eventually return to the environment.”
Of particular concern are the thousands of landfills in flood zones and on the coast; Flood waters mobilize chemicals, and waves crash and erode landfills built along coastlines.
Local authorities are supposed to be responsible for managing old landfills if the owner cannot be identified. Responsibility only shifts to the Environment Agency if a site is deemed to pose a risk. But since the government withdrew the contaminated land fund in 2017, cash-strapped local authorities rarely have the resources to identify or actively manage sites.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We provide expert technical and regulatory support to local authorities to help them carry out their responsibilities for regulating contaminated land in England. Where contaminated land requires remediation, we work with partners to reduce unacceptable risks to human health and the environment.”
Historic landfills and operational waste sites can be viewed on Watershed’s new pollution map