Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42, 7452–7458
Impact of Electronic Waste Disposal on Lead Concentrations in Landfill Leachate E R I K S P A L V I N S , † B R A J E S H D U B E Y , †,‡ A N D T I M O T H Y T O W N S E N D * ,† Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, PO Box 116450 Gainesville, Florida 32611-6450 and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland Mail Center, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Received April 2, 2008. Revised manuscript received July 24, 2008. Accepted August 4, 2008.
Lead is the element most likely to cause discarded electronic devices to be characterized as hazardous waste. To examine the fate of lead from discarded electronics in landfills, five columns were filled with synthetic municipal solid waste (MSW). A mix of electronic devices was added to three columns (6% by weight), while two columns served as controls. A sixth column contained waste excavated from an existing MSW landfill. Leachate quality was monitored for 440 days. In columns with the synthetic waste, leachate pH indicated that the simulated landfill environment was characteristic of the acid phase of waste decomposition; lead leachability should be greater in the acid phase of landfill degradation as compared to the methanogenic phase. Lead concentrations ranged from 7 to 66 µg/L in the columns containing electronic waste and ranged from
