40 Jahre Umweltmonitoring im Einflussgebiet einer Kehrichtverbrennungsanlage

40 years of environmental monitoring in the area of influence of a waste incineration plant The waste incineration plant (WIP) of Niederurnen (canton of Glarus, Switzerland) was opened at the end of 1973. It is situated in a plain at the foot of a mountain slope covered with beech trees. In the context of the licensing procedure, the local community requested a monitoring program to document the effects the plant would have on the environment. As a consequence, starting in 1971, three examples of sampling were carried out before the WIP came into operation at the end of 1973 and a monitoring program on the basis of the analysis of chloride, heavy metals and other elements in the leaves of mature beech trees was started. At 22 sites around the plant, leaves were harvested annually over a period of 40 years. Initially, the plant system had only simple flue-gas cleaning. Following Swiss air pollution control legislation, the cleaning system was improved in several steps. These improvements resulted in marked decreases in the concentrations of foliar chloride and zinc. Foliar chloride (and zinc) concentration may be considered as a good bioindicator for the environmental effects of a WIP.