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. 2025 Jun 30;47(8):293.
doi: 10.1007/s10653-025-02603-9.

Investigation of geoenvironmental contamination and risks of municipal solid waste disposal sites in urban Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Muhammad Ayaz Khan  1 , Abdullah Khan  2 , Zia Ur Rahman  2 , Azhar Rashid  2 , Khalid Latif  3
Affiliations

Investigation of geoenvironmental contamination and risks of municipal solid waste disposal sites in urban Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Muhammad Ayaz Khan et al. Environ Geochem Health. .

Abstract

This study was conducted to analyze potentially toxic elements (PTEs) contamination and environmental risk assessment of open municipal solid waste (OMSW) disposal sites in urban areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. For this purpose, representative samples of municipal solid waste (n = 120), OMSW decompose (n = 21), and dumpsites soil (n = 40) were collected by random sampling. Total quantity and OMSW composition were determined by total load count and American Society for Testing Material (ASTM) methods, the OMSW decompose and dumpsite soil samples were analyzed for various parameters including power of hydrogen (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), nitrate (NO3-1), phosphate (PO4-3), potassium (K+) and PTEs using potentiometric and spectrophotometric methods. The collected data was statistically analyzed by using descriptive and multivariate analysis. The OMSW composition was found in the order of food waste (37.2%) ˃ yard trimmings and organics (24.4%) ˃ plastic (12.8%) ˃ paper (3.9%) ˃ glass (1.3%) ˃ metal (0.6%). The OSMW decompose and the adjacent soil showed different pH and EC values at all locations. In general, the decompose pH was ranged from 6.73 to 9.85 and EC from 1029.65 to 9907.67 µS cm-1, which was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher than the soil pH (6.75 to 8.00) and EC (120.33 to 1265.67 µS cm-1). The concentrations of NO3-1, PO4-3 and K+, were found higher in the disposal site decompose than in the soil. Mean concentrations of cadmium (Cd) ranged from 0.00 to 0.40 mg kg-1, manganese (Mn) from 0.00 to 5.49 mg kg-1, nickel (Ni) from 1.07 to 3.18 mg kg-1, and lead (Pb) from 0.77 to 3.74 mg kg-1 in disposal site decompose, while Cd from 0.01 to 0.70 mg kg-1), Mn from 0.07 to 5.19 mg kg-1, Ni from 0.98 to 3.09 mg kg-1, and Pb from 0.77 to 3.57 mg kg-1 in the disposal sites soil. The PTEs, were found significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher in disposal site decompose than soil. Pollution factor (CF) and multi-metal indices (DegC, MDC, PLI, NIPI) revealed significant pollution, with Abbottabad the highest levels followed by Bannu and Peshawar OMSW disposal sites soil. The environmental risk factor ( E r i ) and environmental risk index (RI) indicated moderate to very high ecological and environmental risks, with Ni and lead Pb being the primary concerns. It was concluded that both OMSW decompose and dumpsites soil were found contaminated with PTEs, call for sustainable waste management and remediation measures in the selected areas.

Keywords: Dumpsite soil; Environmental risk; Pollution index; Potentially toxic elements; Waste characterization.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethical approval: Not applicable.

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