International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health
Respiratory and general health impairments of workers employed in a municipal solid waste disposal at an open landfill site in Delhi
Introduction
Uncontrolled land filling practices and associated problems of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal is a growing environmental and public health concern in the developing world. In India, about 50 million tons of MSW is collected by the civic authorities every year, 90% of which is dumped in low-lying areas at the outskirts of the cities (TERI, 1998). Landfill sites of the country receive all kinds of garbage like food wastes, dead animals, plastics, rubber, chemical wastes, etc. In addition, health-care wastes including used needles and syringes are often dumped in landfill sites in contradiction to the Government's rules requiring separate disposal of biomedical wastes (Patil and Shekdar, 2001). The wastes are dumped and spread in an uncontrolled and uncovered manner causing great public nuisance.
The landfill sites often lack provisions for leachate collection and treatment, and landfill gas collection and use. As a consequence, the landfill gases escape into the atmosphere adding to green house gas emissions. Thus the land filling practices are considered unsafe for human health and the environment (Al-Yaquot and Hamoda, 2002). Installation of appropriate systems for urban waste disposal in the developing countries is delayed for several reasons like non-availability of appropriate technologies, absence of professional training, and inadequacy of funds (Patil and Shekdar, 2001). An important factor in the Indian context, however, is the lack of basic epidemiological data on the health impact of prevailing waste management practices that would motivate and drive the authorities to adopt safer management techniques. Indeed, little attention has been focused so far on the health impact of chronic exposure to MSW in India. Against this background, we have investigated in this study the respiratory and general health of MSW disposal workers at Okhla landfill site, Delhi.
Section snippets
Study area
The landfill site at Okhla in southeast Delhi, covering an area of 32.6 ha, receives an average of 1500 tonnes of MSW per day. The waste basically consists of household garbage, street sweeping and demolition wastes. In addition, a fair amount of biomedical waste is dumped here. The average depth of the waste in the landfill area was 45 ft. Total suspended particulate matter (TSP) in the site varied between 559 and 2082 μg/m3, which was much higher than the local standards for MSW dumping sites
Respiratory symptoms
About 89% of the landfill workers exhibited single or multiple respiratory symptoms in contrast to 57% of the controls. URS were found in 72% of the landfill workers compared to 37% of the controls. Similarly, LRS were more prevalent in landfill workers (77%) than in controls (43%). Common URS in landfill workers were frequent sneezing, common cold and fever, running or stuffy nose and sinusitis. Chest discomfort or pain, breathlessness on exertion, cough with phlegm, dry cough and wheeze were
Discussion
The study revealed greater prevalence of upper and LRS, lung function impairment, gastrointestinal, dermatologic, and neurobehavioral problems in persons working at the Okhla landfill site, Delhi, compared to their matched controls. Like the present investigation, respiratory, dermatologic and neurobehavioral symptoms have been reported in landfill workers (Gelberg, 1997), street cleaners and garbage collectors (Mustajbegovic et al., 1994, Poulsen et al., 1995). Similarly, significant
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the National Productivity Council, New Delhi, for financial assistance to carry out the study.
References (29)
- et al.
Eosinophilic bronchitis as a cause of chronic cough
Respir. Med.
(2003) - et al.
Health-care waste management in India
J. Environ. Manage.
(2001) - et al.
Sorting and recycling of domestic waste: review of occupational health problems and their possible causes
Sci. Total Environ.
(1995) - et al.
Induced sputum inflammatoy measures correlate with lung function in children with cystic fibrosis
J. Pediatr.
(2002) - et al.
Neutrophil elastase contributes to cigarette smoke-induced emphysema in mice
Am. J. Pathol.
(2003) - et al.
Pathogenic intestinal parasites and bacterial agents in solid wastes
East Afr. Med. J.
(2002) - et al.
Report: management problems of solid waste landfill in Kuwait
Waste Manage. Res.
(2002) Standardization of spirometry
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.
(1995)- et al.
Clinical, radiologic, and induced sputum features of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in nonsmokers: a descriptive study
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.
(2002) - et al.
Air pollution and brain damage
Toxicol. Pathol.
(2002)
Pulmonary function and ambient particulate matter: epidemiological evidence from NHANES I
Arch. Environ. Health
Acute cigarette smoke-induced connective tissue breakdown requires both neutrophils and macrophage metalloelastase in mice
Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol.
Macrophage metallelastase mediates acute cigarette smoke-induced inflammation via tumor necrosis factor-alpha release
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.
Practical Hematology
Cited by (120)
Bioaerosols in municipal waste as a source of microbiological pollution and health hazard
2023, Bioaerosols Emission from Anthropogenic Sources: Influencing Factors, Microbial Diversity, Epidemiological Threats, and Control ApproachesUpcycling the solid wastes as precursors for graphene production
2023, Graphene Extraction from Waste: A Sustainable Synthesis Approach for Graphene and Its DerivativesA review on municipal solid wastes and their associated problems and solutions (waste-to-energy recovery and nano-treatment) with special reference to India
2023, Waste Management and Resource Recycling in the Developing WorldElucidating the role of environmental management of forests, air quality, solid waste and wastewater on the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2
2022, Hygiene and Environmental Health AdvancesHealth symptoms and inflammatory blood biomarkers from exposure of recyclable waste workers to particulate matter and bioaerosols
2022, Atmospheric Pollution Research