Evaluation of the Phytotoxicity of Leachate from a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill: The Case Study of Bukov Landfill

Abstract

Municipal solid waste landfilling, landfilling process and landfill reclamation result in leachate, which may be dangerous to the environment. Municipal solid waste leachate phytotoxicity tests were performed using the toxicity test and a subchronic toxicity pot experiment by direct application of leachate to reference soil in 5, 25, and 50% concentration for a period of 28 days. White mustard (Sinapis alba L.) seeds were exposed to different leachate dilution. Leachate were collected monthly in 2018 in the period from April to September. Furthermore, pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen were measured. The inhibition results on Sinapis alba L. seeds in the tested leachate samples ranged from −18.02 to 39.03%. Lower concentration of leachate showed a stimulating effect (only for Sample 1 and Sample 2 at 5% concentration). It was found out that leachate taken at the landfill is phytotoxic. The results of measurements are based on rainfall which affects the quantity and quality of the leachate. The values of germinated seeds/growing plants from the subchronic toxicity pot experiment ranged from 80 to 104%; therefore, the leachate is considered phytotoxic. However, it was confirmed that leachate may be used for landfill irrigation.

Ecotoxicological Estimation of 4-Cumylphenol, 4-t-Octylphenol, Nonylphenol, and Volatile Leachate Phenol Degradation by the Microscopic Fungus Umbelopsis isabellina Using a Battery of Biotests

“…It was found that the use of 20% and 40% of the leachate in fungal cultures resulted in root growth inhibition of 32.5% and 59.1%, respectively, for the filtrates from the start of cultivation. A correlation between a higher leachate content and a greater percent of root growth inhibition of exposed plants was also demonstrated by Šourková et al [ 61 ], who noticed a similar degree of S. alba root growth reduction using 25% and 50% leachate. These findings indicate that the use of large amounts of leachate disrupts the defense system and the metabolism of bioindicator plant species.…”

Public recreation and landscape protection - with environment hand in hand…

“…After a set time, the root growth inhibition (IR) results of the plants were interpreted. IR values (%)> 110 indicate stimulation, IR values <90 indicate inhibition (phytotoxicity) and values in the range 90-110 are classified as no effect (non-phytotoxic) (Šourková et al, 2021b;Šourková et al, 2020;Baran and Tarnawski, 2013). The determination of IR (%) was given according to Equation ( 1):…”

Phytotoxicity of Tires Evaluated in Simulated Conditions

“…Their primary characteristic is the sensibility to pollutants occurring in the tested samples of soils and waters. These pollutants act as a stress factor affecting plant germination and development [21,29,30].…”

“…The results of IR (%) inform about the percentage of IR stimulation (%) < 0, or inhibition of root growth IR (%) > 0 in the plant species used. IR was determined according to the following equation [21,28,31,32] (1):…”

“…The phytotoxicity of leachate is generally established using GI [21,22] and IR, giving the percentage of root growth stimulation or inhibition [21,23,24]. These two indices are the most sensitive parameters of relative germination of seeds and relative elongation of roots, which take into account both the low toxicity affecting root development and the high toxicity affecting germination [23,25].…”