Persistent organic pollutants in sewage sludge: Levels, sources, and trends

Abstract

All sewage sludges in developed countries contain Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and are a source of these chemicals to the environment when recycling this material to land. Therefore, it is important to understand the risks to human health and the environment from this practice. Over the past thirty years a significant amount of research has focused on this subject and this chapter presents an overview of that research. The chemicals that have been reviewed are polychlorinated dioxins/furans, polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, polybrominated biphenyls and perfluorochemicals. A discussion of levels, sources (if known) and trends of eac..