Alice in…Wasteland

L. Caterino, G. Diana, F. Misso, G. Ratto, M.T. Zara

- ITALY -

ContextWe are members of a no-profit association whose

name is

“ALICE IN WASTELAND”

ProblemIncreasing media alert for illegal waste deposits in South of Italy, in particular in Campania.

• Gathering of available information aboutwaste pollution in our district

• Definition of the aims• Experimental design• Data analysis• Results• Conclusions

As members of the ‘‘Alice in Wasteland’’ association wewant to investigate the situation of waste deposits in ourcountry to suggest possible solutions to our Mayor.

RESEARCH OUTLINE:

http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2013/11/09/napoli-la-terra-dei-fuochi-aria-infetta-rifiuti-e-tumori-attorno-al-vesuvio/771895/

Gathering of informationDIFFERENT KINDS OF WASTE

Asbestos and Fired General

TOWN Hazardous waste waste waste

Villa Literno 4 0 0

Aversa 1 16 0

Acerra 3 5 0

Nola 9 0 3

Napoli 2 5 0

Ercolano 0 1 4

Caserta 0 6 0

Environment and health monitoring research in our district

‘Casapesenna: monitoraggio ambientale e sanitario’ISS – ARPAC – ASL Ce2

Observation period: August 2005 May 2008

Ground

Concentrations of metals

Observations(mg/l)

Regulatory limits(mg/l)

(min-max)

Beryllium (Be) 4,17 - 8,33 2

Copper (Cu) 21,4 - 151 120

Tin (Sn) 2,42 - 6,35 1

Thallium (Tl) 0,24 - 2,10 1

(D. Lgs 152/2006)

Ground waters

(D.Lgs 152/2006)Concentrations of inorganic substances

Max observations

Regulatorylimits(mg/l)(mg/l)

Aluminum (Al) 577 200Arsenic (As) 15,3 10

Fluorides 1820 1500Nitrites 1900 500

Lead (Pb) 583 10

Gathering of information

Concentrations of organicsubstances

Max observations

Regulatorylimits(mg/l)(mg/l)

TetraChloroEthylene (TCE) 9,32 1,1

Trichloromethane 0,37 0,15

Tribromomethane 1,08 0,3

The Lancet Oncology (2004)

Gathering of information

Research aimsWe want to investigate the behavior of a landfill modelguided by the following research question:

WHICH SOILS SHOULD BE USED IN A LANDFILL?

Why this question??

Leachate is any liquid percolating through the deposited waste (Council Directive 2006/31/EC).

To improve landfills

impermeability

To investigate the behavior of

leachate flow

Council Directive 99/31/EC

Experimental design

How to model a landfill?

Permeability tests…

Soils:- Clay- Sand- Gravel- Crushed stone

Flowing liquids:- Water- Tomato-juice- Olive oil

Experimental design

Testing conditions:

- Same soilsVolume

- Same liquidsVolume

Remarks:

- Fully saturatedsoils samples

- Flow rate

decreases whenliquid level over

soil sample decreases.

Experimental design

Flow rate: leachate volume to a fixed flowing time

Eureka!Fine grained soils

delay leachate flow!

Data Analysis

LIQUID FLOW RATE (ml/s)

CLAY SAND GRAVELCRUSHED

STONE

WATER 0,01 1,148 3,5 6,07

TOMATO-JUICE 0,00015 0,074 0,203 0,258

OLIVE OIL 0,002 0,163 0,375 0,525

Dear Mr. Mayor,

The non-profit association

‘Alice in Wasteland’ would

like to help you to make

sites safer for waste

deposits.

http://www.munnezza.info/

DistrictLandfillsNumber

InhabitantsLandfills every

100.000 inhabitants

Naples 40 3.100.000 1,3Salerno 16 1.000.000 1,6Caserta 22 900.000 2,4

Benevento 6 280.000 2,1Avellino 8 420.000 1,9

In all 92

In our district,

there are a lot of legal and illegal landfills.

Our subsoils aren’t suitable because of their

high permeability.

Beneath a landfill, a thick clay layer is

required to delay leachate flow.

Survey Exploration - AGIP (1966)

Dear Mr. Mayor,

Help us to come back

to the Wonderland our

fathers knew!

Thanks to all of you!!!

LICEO SCIENTIFICO STATALE

‘‘E. G. SEGRÈ’’

- ITALY -