Battery Lead Recycling and Site Demolition

Abandoned and Contaminated Land

• The main pollutants of contaminated land are industry, mining, waste disposal, and agriculture.
• Contaminated land from the past is mainly "industrially" contaminated and has caused serious damage to the environment and human health.

Deteriorated Land and Contaminated Soil

• Land is a three-dimensional entity that includes terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems as well as environmental compartments (soil, subsurface waters, surface waters, and sediment).
• A site is a certain area of the land defined by its owner and its use function.
• Contaminated land and contaminated site are often used as synonyms, assuming that the owner has been identified.
• Soil is the main compartment of land, including topsoil, subsurface layers, basic rock, and groundwater.

Contaminated Land

• In the early management of contaminated land, priority was attributed to human health risk, and not to the value of the soil itself.
• Risk management and risk reduction aimed at reducing access by humans and used dig and dump, thermal oxidation (burning), or chemical clean-up methods, which did not consider soil as a habitat of living organisms.

Notorious Cases of Contamination

• Love Canal, near Niagara Falls, was a contaminated site where hazardous chemical waste disposal caused catastrophic contamination.
• Times Beach, Missouri, was another infamous case of contamination where a waste hauler sprayed oil containing dioxin on the roads, resulting in the death of 62 horses and the evacuation of the town.

Mining and Metal Processing

• Mining and metal processing have a huge environmental impact due to contamination via atmosphere, surface water system, and direct emission from transport and waste disposal.
• Soil contamination from metal ore and bauxite mining is a significant issue.

Agricultural Storage and Processing

• Agricultural storage and processing, as well as chemicals added directly to soil (fertilizers, pesticides, wastes), intensively contaminate soils used for food and animal feed production.

Soil Valuation and Microbial Community

• Soil has been improperly valued for several years, and our knowledge about soil contamination was scarce.
• The microbial community of soil is extremely active, flexible, and adaptable, and is capable of degrading, utilizing, and eliminating degradable, utilizable, and toxic chemical substances in the soil.

Typical Soil Contaminants

• Typical soil contaminants can be emitted onto soil through the atmosphere in the form of wet and dry deposition by precipitation or wind, through surface waters by floods and by solid erosion.
• Soil contaminants can be emitted from industrial and mining activities, waste disposal, and agricultural practices.### Soil Contamination and Deterioration
• Soil contaminants can come from the atmosphere, including:
  • PAHs from heating and incineration
  • Polychlorinated biphenyl and dioxins from incineration
  • Metals from smelters and traffic
  • Acid rain
  • Particulate matter
• Contamination can also occur through surface waters, including:
  • Contaminated runoff water
  • Eroded contaminated solid material or waste
  • Floods disposing of contaminated sediment on soil
• Direct contaminant input into and onto soil can occur through:
  • Industrial sites and areas where chemicals are produced and used
  • Subsurface pipes and containers for petroleum hydrocarbons
  • Waste disposal, leaking or non-lined waste ponds
  • Mine waste disposal, acid mine drainage, metal contamination, erosion, and leached contaminants
  • Former gasworks with stored residues of gas production
  • Waste burial and hazardous waste burial
  • Storage and application of chemical substances in agriculture
  • Chemical substances directly applied on soil, including fertilizers, pesticides, manure, and sewage sludge

Effects of Soil Contamination

• Soil contamination can lead to:
  • Loss of soil and land suitable as habitat for ecosystems and agroecosystems
  • Wind and water erosion, landslides
  • Soil sealing
  • Compaction
  • Acidification
  • Organic matter decline
  • Salinization and sodification
  • Desertification
• Soil contamination can also affect:
  • Groundwater (seen mainly as a source of drinking water)
  • Urban and industrial land uses
  • Ecosystems and food safety

Soil Deterioration

• Soil deterioration can occur through:
  • Loss of soil organic matter
  • Erosion, deflation, compaction, and other soil deterioration processes
  • Salinization and sodification
  • Desertification
• Soil sealing is the covering of the soil surface with impervious materials, resulting in:
  • Loss of soil functionality
  • Impaired water and air regimes
  • Lower buffering capacity against stress
• Compaction alters soil properties, including:
  • Porosity and permeability
  • Reduced availability of water and oxygen
  • Restricted root growth
• Acidification of soil leads to:
  • Decreased pH
  • Accelerated soil leaching
  • Promoted mobility of elements and ions
  • Reduced nutrient availability
  • Increased toxicity of metals

European Soil Status

• According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the main contaminants identified in Europe include:
  • Toxic metals
  • BTEX
  • PAHs
  • Chlorinated hydrocarbons
  • Inorganic compounds
  • Asbestos
  • Mineral oil
• Liability issues and financing constraints complicate remediation efforts in Europe
• The European Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation Project (SoCo) aims to address soil degradation processes and their link to agriculture

Remediation and Management

• The European Union has spent approximately 0.01‰ to 3.0‰ of the gross domestic product (GDP) on contaminated site management
• The rehabilitation of industrial sites has been funded through the Structural Funds, with a budget of €2,250 million for the EU25 for the period 2000-2006
• The total expenditure, including national funds, is approximately €12 per capita
• 60% of the funds were used for remediation, while 40% were used for assessment
• The number of suspected contaminated sites is continuously growing due to poor achievement of remediation targets, inefficient use of funds, and emerging new activities and chemicals