Safety Maintenance: Reduction of Dioxins/Furans Levels After Urban Landfill Upgrade (Armenia)

Upgrading was done at Ararat urban landfill in order to reduce releases of such unintentionally produced (UP) persistent organic pollutants (POPs) as Dioxins/Furans. Best available techniques (BAT) and best environmental practices (BEP) were introduced and an appropriate capacity was created. The assessment of dumpsites was carried out, in particular, sampling of air and subsequent laboratory analyses for the content of POPs were performed in 2016–2018. For the analysis of ambient air samples SOP-LSA-031 (US EPA 1613B) method was used. A gas chromatograph coupled to a high-resolution mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific dual GC Trace 1310 and HRMS DFS) was used for the separation and quantification of the analytes. Former Ararat urban dumpsite was earlier characterized by open burning routine practice and considered to be a source of Dioxins/Furans emissions. Modernization, infrastructure development, and BAT/BEP was implemented at the site to reduce Dioxins/Furans releases.