Human Health Risks of Dioxins for Populations Living Near Modern Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators

Although incineration is an effective way of treating municipal solid waste (MSW), in many countries the potential health risks associated with stack emissions, particularly those of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs), have become a cause of great controversy and concern. Given the interest and importance of this controversy, in the present paper a series of experimental data corresponding to a number of surveys made in the vicinity of three MSW incinerators (MSWIs) of Catalonia (Spain) are reviewed. In recent months, an adaptation to the EU legislation on pollutant emissions from the stack was carried out in these facilities. We assessed whether the pronounced reductions in the atmospheric PCDD/PCDFs emissions parallel the concurrent decreases in environmental matrices collected in the vicinity of the MSWIs. In comparison with other PCDD/PCDFs emission sources in the areas under direct influence of the MSWIs, the health risks from current emissions of PCDD/PCDFs by these incinerators would be of low significance for populations living in the neighborhood. For such populations, the daily intake of PCDD/PCDFs from direct and indirect (diet) exposure are currently within the rank recommended by the WHO as the maximum daily exposure to PCDD/PCDFs for non-carcinogenic adverse effects.