Impact of plastic waste disposal on soil and water quality at Lucknow dumpsites
The environmental damage due to mismanagement of plastic waste is a matter of serious concern. The landfill sites are mostly filled with plastic waste due to littering habits and non-biodegradability of plastic wastes which persist for several years and therefore, may creates complexities on land and water. To validate the effect of plastic waste dumps on soil and underground water, CPCB sponsored a study to Indian Institute of Toxicological Research (IITR), Lucknow on “Impact of Plastic Waste Disposal on Soil and Water Quality at Lucknow Dumpsites”. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of plastic waste disposal on soil and underground water quality near Municipal Solid Waste (MWS) dumpsites. To dumpsites were selected in Lucknow city i.e. Ghaila at Hardoi Road and Dudauli at Sitapur Road for this study. The soil and water quality data revealed that chemical moieties like heavy metals, chloride, phthalates etc. migrate from plastic waste into the surrounding medium because these plastic additives are not chemically bound to the polymeric chain and remain freely mobile and leachable phase. These additives can migrate from soft plastic t the environment due to physic-chemical exertion and microbial degradation. The leachate can cause considerable pollution problems by contaminating the surrounding soil, ground or surface waters.