| Title | Comparison of soil heavy metal pollution caused by e-waste recycling activities and traditional industrial operations |
| Authors | He, Kailing Sun, Zehang Hu, Yuanan Zeng, Xiangying Yu, Zhiqiang Cheng, Hefa |
| Affiliation | Chinese Acad Sci, Guangzhou Inst Geochem, State Key Lab Organ Geochem, Guangzhou 510640, Guangdong, Peoples R China. Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Beijing 100049, Peoples R China. China Univ Geosci, Sch Water Resources & Environm, MOE Lab Groundwater Circulat & Evolut, Beijing 100083, Peoples R China. Peking Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, MOE Lab Earth Surface Proc, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China. |
| Keywords | Soil pollution Heavy metals E-waste recycling Traditional industrial operations Sequential extraction Potential ecological risk PEARL RIVER DELTA HUMAN HEALTH-RISK SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION SURFACE SOILS SEQUENTIAL EXTRACTION AGRICULTURAL SOILS SOUTH CHINA FARMLAND SOILS TRACE-METALS URBAN SOILS |
| Issue Date | 2017 |
| Publisher | ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH |
| Citation | ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH.2017,24(10),9387-9398. |
| Abstract | The traditional industrial operations are well recognized as an important source of heavy metal pollution, while that caused by the e-waste recycling activities, which have sprouted in some developing countries, is often overlooked. This study was carried out to compare the status of soil heavy metal pollution caused by the traditional industrial operations and the e-waste recycling activities in the Pearl River Delta, and assess whether greater attention should be paid to control the pollution arising from e-waste recycling activities. Both the total contents and the chemical fractionation of major heavy metals (As, Cr, Cd, Ni, Pb, Cu, and Zn) in 50 surface soil samples collected from the e-waste recycling areas and 20 soil samples from the traditional industrial zones were determined. The results show that the soils in the e-waste recycling areas were mainly polluted by Cu, Zn, As, and Cd, while Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb were the major heavy metals in the soils from the traditional industrial zones. Statistical analyses consistently show that Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn in the surface soils from both types of sites were contributed mostly by human activities, while As, Cr, and Ni in the soils were dominated by natural background. No clear distinction was found on the pollution characteristic of heavy metals in the surface soils between the e-waste recycling areas and traditional industrial zones. The potential ecological risk posed by heavy metals in the surface soils from both types of sites, which was dominated by that from Cd, ranged from low to moderate. Given the much shorter development history of e-waste recycling and its largely unregulated nature, significant efforts should be made to crack down on illegal e-waste recycling and strengthen pollution control for related activities. |
| URI | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/474261 |
| ISSN | 0944-1344 |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11356-017-8548-x |
| Indexed | SCI(E) |
| Appears in Collections: | 城市与环境学院 地表过程分析与模拟教育部重点实验室 |
