A review of dioxin releases to land and water in the UK

UK government policy is to identify and control the sources of some chlorinated organic compounds including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), often known collectively as dioxins. This requires the gathering of information on the scale of releases of PCDD/PCDFs to all environmental media. While a number of recent studies have produced inventories of PCDD/PCDF emissions to air, this study, commissioned by Hes Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP - now part of the Environment Agency), is the first attempt at producing a comprehensive UK inventory of emissions of dioxins to land and water from industrial and non-industrial processes. Release of PCDD/PCDFs in wastes taken to landfill are included under the definitions of releases to land used by the Environment Agency. Assembly of the inventory, particularly for releases to water, was severely hampered by lack of data from the UK or overseas; further work is required to remedy the data gaps and deficiencies revealed. The inventory puts total quantified releases to land at 1500-12000 g toxic equivalent quantities (TEQ) per year - significantly more than releases to air or water. This is as expected, given the nature of the processes that form PCDD/PCDFs and their propensity to bind tightly to solid materials. The bulk of releases to land are to landfills rather than the open environment. From the data available, the open use of chemicals (including the disposal of wood treated with PCP), the manufacture of pesticides, the incineration of municipal solid waste (MSW) and accidental fires appear to be the largest contributors. The processes with greatest potential for releases to water appear to be the open use of chemicals, sewage treatment, disposal of waste oil, accidental fires, production of pesticides and chlorophenols and chemical waste incineration. In addition, the run-off from roads may be a significant source of releases as this is untreated. For the majority of processes studied, the trend is towards reduced releases to land and water, but improvements in the control of releases to air may lead to increased quantities of PCDD/PCDFs in some wastes and thus to increased releases to land. One exception may be from increasing quantities of sewage sludge disposed of to farm land. Changes in waste disposal practice - for example, use of wastes for soil improvement - may also inadvertently increase the probability of human exposure to PCDD/PCDF releases to land. The study did not attempt to assess the risks to humans and ecosystems from releases of PCDD/PCDFs to land and water: it recommends the development of an appropriate risk-assessment methodology. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.