Occurrence and treatment efficiency of pharmaceuticals in landfill leachates

• Landfill leachate contains a wide range of pharmaceuticals.
• Sixteen selected pharmaceuticals are detected in all four landfill leachates.
• There is a significant seasonal effect on pharmaceuticals concentrations in leachates.
• Leachate treatment plants cannot remove most of the pharmaceuticals effectively.
• These landfills are likely sources for contamination of ground water.

Landfill leachates might contain pharmaceuticals due to the expired or unwanted drugs were disposed of at landfills. These pharmaceuticals might pose a threat to soil and groundwater. Therefore, this study investigated the distributions of pharmaceutical residues and toxicities among four typical municipal landfill leachates. Twenty six pharmaceuticals were investigated in this study and fifteen of them were found in all samples from four leachates. In addition, ampicillin and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) were detected in urban landfills (A1 and A2) but were not in rural and suburb landfills (B and C). On the other hand, some compounds were much more abundant in suburb/rural landfill leachates than those in urban landfills including diclofenac, gemfibrozil and amphetamine. Landfill leachate treatment plants could not remove most of the pharmaceuticals effectively. Landfill leachates without proper treatments would have significant adverse health impacts on human and aquatic life.

Pharmaceuticals (ng/L) in raw leachates at four landfills.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide