Yukio Noma* and Takashi Ikeguchi**

* Hiroshima Prefectural Health and Environment Center
** National Institute of Public Health

+ Correspondence should be addressed to Yukio Noma:
(1-6-29 Minami-machi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-0007 Japan)

Abstract

In this study, previously reported dioxin levels at waste disposal sites were reviewed. The dioxins in the soils, wastes and in the boring samples taken at the sites were compared with the dioxin levels of fly ash, bottom ash, surrounding soils and sediments. Dioxins in leachate and gas generated at landfill sites were also compared with surrounding environmental samples. The dioxins levels in disposal sites were widely disparate presumably because of the different levels of dioxins in the wastes, the different landfilling methods, and the variety of soil and groundwater systems of the sites. In foreign literature, there have been many investigations into heavily dioxin-contaminated sites and their remediation. On the other hand most reports in Japan have been concerned with the influences in and around the sites at which municipal solid waste incinerator ash has been deposited.

Key words: dioxins, waste disposal site, leachate, soil, gas generated at landfill sites