The potential impact of a new waste incineration plant on local dairy and agricultural products

In April 2013 a new urban waste incinerator was switched on in Parma (Italy). Since 2011 a surveillance project, consisting of four investigation lines, had been put in place to assess the plant’s potential impact on inhabitants as well as on local dairy and agricultural products. Pollutants’ dispersion and related soil deposit were estimated by means of an atmospheric dispersion model for PM10 which allowed to identify the areas where the impact can be considered significant or negligible. According to the estimated dispersion of pollutants, some agro-zoo technical farms were categorized into “highly/minimally affected” by plant emissions. Due to the limited dimension of the highly impacted area, farms couldn’t be randomly selected. In these farms, several samples of raw milk, hay, tomatoes, cucurbitaceae and wheat where collected. Samples collection had been started before the incinerator went into operation and is currently underway. Samples concentration of Dioxins, Furans, Polychlorobiphenyls, Metals...