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Poklonskaya Alexandra

Faculty of ecology and chemical technologies

Department of Applied Ecology and Environmental Protection

Speciality "Management of ecological safety"

Improvement of landfill network — the way of forming the trends of stable development of Donetsk

Scientific adviser: ph. d. Chayka Lyudmila

Content

Introduction

The problem of solid household waste (SHW) is one of the major ecological, economic and social problems of mankind. For a long time solid household waste, the great bulk of which (from 45 to 80%) consists of organic substances, have traditionally been forbidden on city dumps – specially allotted places, in ravines or open-cast mines.

Not without reason in 1994 the European parliament passed the European instruction "Packing and treating waste". The problem of SHW is especially critical in the countries with transitive economy, including Ukraine. So, in Ukraine about 5 billion cubic meters of SHW have been accumulated, they are stored in 750 landfills (more precisely – dumps), many of which are filled at 60-90%, and some – are overflown and should have been closed a long time ago [8].

In Donetsk region 400 million cubic meters of SHW have been collected; there are about 80 dumps of SHW with a total area of 230 hectares, and many of them are also close to 100% filling. Thus, annually, 700-900 unauthorized ("wild") dumps of SHW are found in area [3].

Microbal community spontaneously generated on dumps slowly decomposes organic substances. Biogas (a mix of methane and CO₂) which pollutes ground air and atmosphere is thus formed. For 30-50 years approximately 30% of the buried organic substance is utilized, the other part continues to decay with decreasing speed within the next decades and, possibly, centuries. Garbage deposits at the same time are a source of lixiviation of liquid (filtrate), the quantity and composition of which is defined by humidity, sizes and type of household waste, and also by the condition of the top covering layer. In their turn these characteristics depend on rain and thawed snow, exudating through the garbage thickness.

The purpose

The analysis of the problem of solid household waste and the way of its solution, in respect of forming the trends of a stable development of Donetsk.

Problems

- Research of condition of operating landfills in the city of Donetsk;
- Revealing the awareness of the population concerning the way of collecting and recycling SHW;
- Calculation of possibility of use of landfills as energy carriers;
- The analysis of expediency of opening of new landfills.

Urgency

The problem of complete destruction or partial recycling of solid household waste (SHW) is very urgent. Solid household waste is a rich source of secondary resources (including ferrous, non-ferrous, rare metals), and also – a "free" energy carrier. It is rather important, that processes of recycling of household waste shouldn’t break ecological safety of a city, normal functioning of municipal economy from the point of view of public sanitary and hygiene, and also living conditions of the population as a whole. As it is known, the most part of SHW in the world is stored in dumps, spontaneous or specially made "garbage landfills". However, it is the most inefficient way of treating SHW, as dumps occupy huge territories of often fertile lands and are characterized by high concentration of materials containing carbohydrates (paper, polyethylene, plastic, wood, rubber), they often burn, polluting the environment with gases. Besides, dumps are a source of pollution of both surface and underground waters because of drainage of dumps by atmospheric precipitation.

Novelty of the work

For the first time our work researches the location of landfills, their general condition and correspondence of their capacities to the needs of the city population.

Object of the research

Solid household waste landfills of Donetsk, as one of the major pollutants of the environment.

The methods of research used in work

The inventory of landfills of Donetsk by means of visual survey of the territory, photographing and public inquiry of the townsmen, their attitude to the existing way of collecting and recycling SHW. Ecological and economic calculations. Processing of experimental data by methods of mathematical statistics.

The practical importance of the work

The offer of concrete steps of solving the existing problems which can be used further for improvement of the ecological situation of Donetsk.

1 The literature review

In this section on the basis of the literary data the characteristic of the ecological situation of Donetsk region and the city of Donetsk [3] is presented. The analysis of morphological structure SHW in Donetsk region is adduced. The characteristic of existing landfills and dynamics of the level of improvement of current situation is given. The main functions of improvement of the network of SHW landfills in forming the trends of stable development of the city [4] are considered.

2 The characteristic of landfills

At present three SHW landfills operate in Donetsk: "Chulkovsky", "Larinsky" and "Petrovsky" [6].

Their characteristics don't correspond to the requirements. It is also necessary to notice that their capacities are almost depleted. The given objects are extremely irrationally located (all the three – in the southern part of city). In this case the expenses on transportation and structure of SHW are different for all districts of the city. Garbage removal in Donetsk is carried out by 4-6 enterprises [9].

The Chulkovsky landfill is located in the south-east part of the city, it has been maintained since 1979. The platform is removed from the major inhabited areas and borders on unbuilt lands of the Donetsk City Council. The area of the territory of the dump is 3,2 hectares. The user of the dump is Utility Enterprise "Donekoservis". There is no State certificate on the right of use of the land. The dump operation isn't sufficiently provided by necessary equipment and there is no stock of inert materials for intermediate filling of waste; there is no control of the structure of SHW and no monitoring of the condition of the environment is conducted. There is no certification of the object as a waste disposal place. Temporary functioning of the dump is possible, because there are no other places of burying SHW, corresponding to ecological, sanitary and town-planning norms.

The Larinsky landfill is located in used lime open-cast mines. It is located far from the southern border of the city, 30 km away from the former station of SHW reload in the Kuibyshevsky district. The dump has been maintained since 1993 and it was designed for a fifteen-year term of exploitation. Here the SHW from Voroshilovsky, Kuibyshesky, Budenovsky, Leninsky and Kalininsky districts are kept. The operating system of the dump doesn't correspond to standard requirements. There is no State certificate on the right of use of the land. The dump operation isn't sufficiently provided by equipment and the stock of inert materials for intermediate filling of waste; there is no control of the structure of SHW and no monitoring of the condition of the environment is conducted.

Water supply system and power supply don't function. For a long time because of absence of special equipment and other reasons the garbage ignites, which leads to the dump burning and displeases local residents. There is no certification of the object as a waste disposal place. It is necessary to take measures for the dump reduction in correspondence with standard and ecological requirements; in the long term the dump is due to be closed and recultivated.

The Petrovsky landfill occupies the industrial ground of the former open-cast mine in the southern part of the Petrovsky district; it has the area of 3,5 hectares and depth of 5-6 m. It services the Petrovsky and Kirovsky districts. It is filled by 100%. However, the landfill not only doesn't correspond to modern ecological norms, but even has no obligatory 500 meter sanitary zone from the nearest housing estate, therefore it is the distribution center of dangerous infections (actively transferred by a considerable quantity of rodents living outside) and unpleasant smell; also there is a danger of infection of nearby water-bearing horizons with a poisonous filtrate. The way as it is now, the landfill is subject to immediate closing [8].

Table 2.1 – Parameters of SHW landfills of Donetsk

3 Influence of landfills on the condition of environment

3. 1 Characteristics of landfills as pollutants of atmosphere

Landfills produce a considerable quantity of methane and carbon dioxide. "Garbage gas" contains hydrogen (up to 1%), hydrogen sulfide (0,5%-1,5%), ammonia (up to 0,5%), and also micro quantities of very toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons. Almost all these polluting substances are components of hotbed gases.

In drawing 3.1 the typical curve of "natural" gas production of SHW is shown.

Drawing 3.1 — Dynamics of biogas production in SHW landfills of Donetsk

As it is shown in drawing 3.1 the generation of biogas in the garbage body of a landfill can last more than 30 years, which specifies the landfills as "factories – energy carriers"

The problems connected with biogas can be divided into following categories:

1) Explosions or fires occurring because of gas concentration on a limited territory, for example, in houses, drainage galleries, hatches, boxes which are on or near the landfill;
2) Coming out on surface through breaks or cracks, biogas can ignite, creating a threat of fire on the dump;
3) Fatal influence on cultivated plants and other vegetation, growing at a landfill or adjoining territory;
4) A risk for people’s health which is caused by produced gases;
5) A problem of unpleasant sensations, especially smell [7].

>3.2 Influence of the filtrate on soils

The filtrate contains mostly chlorides, sulfates, zinc, ammonia, nitrogen, lead. The heavy metals which are contained in the filtrate formed in landfills, were closely studied and supervised. In comparison with the total of heavy metals arriving on landfills, their content in the filtrate is rather low. The major part of metals remains in landfills, therefore one should expect that the washout of heavy metals from landfills will proceed for a long time.

During active service of a "sanitary" landfill, the filtrate is gathered and cleared like sewage. For financial reasons, the filtrate is often cleared together with municipal sewer drains.

In connection with such clearing an appreciable quantity of heavy metals contained in the filtrate remains in sewer slags, whereas the other part gets to the water environment. The part that remains in slags, gets on agricultural lands and is burnt, or goes back to the landfill. Thus, the cycle is created which will subsequently let all heavy metals, contained in the filtrate, get to environment. The active life of a landfill includes the period of waste reception, and also the subsequent period when the waste is not buried any more and the final top layer is established, though the filtrate is still gathered for clearing [7].

The analysis of public inquiry

The work presents the results of public inquiry of the population of Donetsk concerning gathering, removal and awareness of inhabitants of such questions as the address of the enterprise serving the district, real payment for garbage removal, problems of separate gathering, and information about the action "Press the garbage" and the "Regional plan of treating waste".

In drawing 4. 1 the diagram of the inquiry results is given.

— yes; — no; — indifferent

The analysis of the diagram shows that 50,4% of the population are satisfied with the garbage removal schedule, 25,9% don't agree with the existing schedule, the others show indifferent attitude. Besides, the poll shows that 85,2% of the population don't address anywhere in case of infringements of the waste removal schedule.

Unfortunately, 68,1% of townsmen don't know addresses of the enterprises which serve the districts, 75,5% never thought of how much is the real payment for waste removal, 78,1% never heard about the action "Press the garbage" and about the "Regional plan of treating waste" existing in the city of Donetsk

Conclusions

The given work considers the questions and ways of improvement of efficiency of public administration in the sphere of environment protection, grounds its purpose and the problem, and considers the direction of the state ecological policy.

The analysis of the condition of natural resources of Donetsk region is made. The present ecological situation is defined as being at a crisis. The reason is that it was formed during the long period because of neglects of objective laws of development and reproduction of natural resources of Ukraine.

The situation with SHW in the city of Donetsk is considered, and it is shown that the three operating landfills don't correspond to sanitary epidemiological norms. On an example of the city districts the ways of negative influence of SHW on the environment are shown, the ways of solution of existing problems are presented.

The literature

1. Збірка нормативних документів міністерств та відомств України з питань екології та природокористування / Під ред. С. С. Куруленка, ч. 2. – Донецьк: Державне управління екології та природних ресурсів в Донецькій області, 2003. – 208 с.;

2. Концепція програми охорони навколишнього природного середовища та забезпечення екологічної безпеки в Донецькій області до 2010 року: Розроблене Держуправлінням екологічної безпеки Мінекобезпеки України в Донецькій області, 1999. – 24 с.;

3. Земля тривоги нашої. За матеріалами доповіді про стан навколишнього природного середовища в Донецькій області у 2005 році / Під ред. С. В. Третьякова, 2006. – 108 с.;

4. Регіональна доповідь про стан навколишнього природного середовища в Донецькій області у 2008 році, Донецьк, 2009. – 116 с.;

5. Остапко В. М., Глухов О. З., Блакберн А. А., Мулєнколва О. Г., Єндеберя А. Я. Регіональна екологічна мережа Донецької області: концепція, програма та схема / Під загальною ред. Остапко В. М. – Донецьк: Видавництво – ТОВ «ТЕХНОПАК», 2008. – 96 с.;

6. Донбас заповідний. Науково-інформаційний довідник-атлас / Під заг. ред. С. С. Куруленка, С. В. Третьякова. – Донецьк: ДФДІПКПК Мінекоресурсів України, 2003. – 160 с.;

7. Посібник з моніторінгу полігонів твердих битових відходів – Донецьк: Тасис. – 2004. – 293 с.;

8. Сайт Міністерства Екології та природних ресурсів України. [Электронний ресурс] – Режим доступа: http://www.menr.gov.ua/ ;

9. Учебное пособие «Утилизация и рекуперация отходов» (для студентов специальности 7.07081 «Экология и охрана окружающей среды») / Краснянский М.Е., Донецк: ООО «Лебедь» – 122с.;

10. Гонопольский А.М. и др. Твердые бытовые отходы как энергетическое топливо. Инженерная защита окружающей среды. – М.: МГУИЭ, 2002 – 244с.

© Poklonskaya A. DonNTU — 2011

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