article · Environmental Challenges
Unregulated solid waste disposal in public areas causes severe contamination across environmental systems, threatening surrounding water supplies and human health. An assessment of surface soil samples gathered from 15 uncontrolled waste dumpsites in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, evaluated heavy metal concentrations and associated ecological hazards. Measured metals exceeded local background values and international safety thresholds, following an average concentration order of zinc, lead, copper, chromium, cobalt, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury. Multiple pollution indices confirmed widespread polymetallic contamination, with zinc, copper, lead, and mercury presenting the greatest environmental danger. The results show that illegal dumpsites create substantial risks, justifying recommendations for dedicated monitoring programmes to regulate waste management, protect water resources, and halt the use of waste site materials as agricultural manure.
Open, uncontrolled solid waste dumpsites allow toxic contaminants to seep into urban soils, threatening surface water, groundwater, and food safety. Identifying the specific heavy metals present helps public health authorities and environmental bodies recognise the severity of polymetallic contamination in tropical urban centres, guiding interventions to halt dangerous practices like using dumpsite waste to fertilise crops.
The abstract does not present a commercial technology, product, or service. The findings provide early-stage diagnostic data that could support municipal authorities, environmental regulators, or waste management consultancies designing site-monitoring programmes and soil protection protocols. Any operational application remains at an early conceptual stage focused on regulatory compliance and policy enforcement rather than market deployment.
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Solid waste management constitutes a major concern and unresolved problem in most parts of the world, particularly in developing countries where solid waste is disposed in unregulated dumpsites in the public spaces. This practice can lead to contamination of environmental compartments such as soil, surface and groundwater which could negatively impact human health. In this study, surface soil samples were collected from 15 selected solid waste dumpsites in Kinshasa City (Democratic Republic of the Congo) to examine the heavy metal content and potential environmental risks. The results highlighted a high concentration of metals in soil samples compared to local background values and international threshold. The average concentration of metals in all soil samples followed generally the order: Zn > Pb > Cu > Cr > Co > Cd > As > Hg. The calculated pollution indexes including Geo-accumulation, Enrichment Factor, Contamination degree and Potential Ecological Risk, revealed polymetallic contamination dominated by several of these metals in which Zn, Cu, Pb and Hg were of greatest concern indicating high environmental risks. This work showed that illegal wild landfills represent a real danger for the environment and human health. Due to the toxicity of heavy metals, the measures to establish a monitoring program that address uncontrolled landfills and solid waste management and disposal are recommended to reduce the load of contaminants in soils which can reach surface and groundwater. On the other hand, the use of manures from these dumpsites for agricultural purposes should be discouraged because they may be easily absorbed at alarming levels by vegetables.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.envc.2022.100461
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