Assessment of the technogenic pressure from solid waste disposal sites using spatial and temporal indicators

Abstract

Introduction. The article is devoted to the topical issue of determining the environmental impact of solid waste disposal sites. In the context of waste generation growing and the prevalence of waste disposal over other methods of management, the impact of landfills and dumps requires identification. The purpose of this article is to present scientific research on the development a set of indicators of technogenic pressure from waste disposal sites and its spatial and temporal variations in the regions of Ukraine. The object of the study is solid waste landfills as a source of technogenic pressure. The subject of the study is the analysis of spatial and temporal variations of the technogenic pressure created by landfills in the regions of Ukraine using indicators. The study is based on the methods of statistical analysis, qualimetrics, generalisation and interpretation of information.

Results of the study. The assessment of the technogenic pressure level from solid waste disposal sites is based on the use of data for the regions of Ukraine and the identification of specific or derivative indicators, which are assigned the role of indicators, as they allow to obtain a more meaningful assessment. The developed system of technogenic pressure indicators from solid waste disposal sites includes integral, point, time and specific indicators. Integral indicators are calculated in relation to the territory of a particular region: the module of technogenic pressure, the relative area and density of landfills. Point indicators provide information on a set of landfills: specific landfilling and average area of one landfill. Time indicators include the intensity of waste accumulation and the dynamics of changes in the average landfill area. Specific indicators include those describing illegal dumps, such as the specific volume of dumping waste and the coefficient of the illegal dumps impact in relation to the landfills. The article also presents the results of calculating the indicators of technogenic pressure from municipal solid waste disposal sites for 24 regions of Ukraine as of 2021 (pre-war period). Thus, according to the value of the technogenic pressure module, unfavourable regions were identified. The average intensity of waste accumulation at landfills was 4%, and this indicator significantly depends on the quality of the initial information. It has been determined that the impact of illegal dumps in relation to officially registered disposal sites (landfills) is insignificant. The practical significance of the work lies in the possibility of applying the developed set of indicators for a particular region or a group of regions. In addition, the application of the developed set of indicators allows us to analyze the dynamics of the process, which is important for assessing the impact of the war on the technogenic pressure redistribution by the regions of Ukraine.

Conclusions. The number and area of landfills, as well as the weight and volume of waste, are the initial data for developing a system of indicators for assessing the technogenic load, the average value of which was 451.8 t/km² of solid waste. On average, landfills occupy 0.016% of the territory, and their number is 1.1 per 10 km². Over the past year, landfills have been replenished with waste by 4%. Regions with unfavourable situations with municipal solid waste disposal include Kyiv, Lviv, Donetsk and Khmelnytskyi regions. The most favourable situation is in Sumy and Vinnytsia regions.