Wallis Shannon L, Emmett Edward A, Hardy Robyn, Casper Brenda B, Blanchon Dan J, Testa Joseph R, Menges Craig W, Gonneau Cédric, Jerolmack Douglas J, Seiphoori Ali, Steinhorn Gregor, Berry Terri-Ann
Engineering Pathway, Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
Perelman School of Medicine, Superfund Research Program, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Front Environ Sci. 2020 Mar;8. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2020.00020. Epub 2020 Mar 4.
As the 21st century uncovers ever-increasing volumes of asbestos and asbestos-contaminated waste, we need a new way to stop 'grandfather's problem' from becoming that of our future generations. The production of inexpensive, mechanically strong, heat resistant building materials containing asbestos has inevitably led to its use in many public and residential buildings globally. It is therefore not surprising that since the asbestos boom in the 1970s, some 30 years later, the true extent of this hidden danger was exposed. Yet, this severely toxic material continues to be produced and used in some countries, and in others the disposal options for historic uses - generally landfill - are at best unwieldy and at worst insecure. We illustrate the global scale of the asbestos problem via three case studies which describe various removal and/or end disposal issues. These case studies from both industrialised and island nations demonstrate the potential for the generation of massive amounts of asbestos contaminated soil. In each case, the final outcome of the project was influenced by factors such as cost and land availability, both increasing issues, worldwide. The reduction in the generation of asbestos containing materials will not absolve us from the necessity of handling and disposal of contaminated land. Waste treatment which relies on physico-chemical processes is expensive and does not contribute to a circular model economy ideal. Although asbestos is a mineral substance, there are naturally occurring biological-mediated processes capable of degradation (such as bioweathering). Therefore, low energy options, such as bioremediation, for the treatment for asbestos contaminated soils are worth exploring. We outline evidence pointing to the ability of microbe and plant communities to remove from asbestos the iron that contributes to its carcinogenicity. Finally, we describe the potential for a novel concept of creating ecosystems over asbestos landfills ('activated landfills') that utilize nature's chelating ability to degrade this toxic product effectively.
随着21世纪发现的石棉及受石棉污染的废物数量不断增加，我们需要一种新方法来阻止“遗留问题”成为子孙后代面临的问题。生产含石棉的廉价、机械强度高且耐热的建筑材料，不可避免地导致其在全球许多公共和住宅建筑中得到使用。因此，自20世纪70年代石棉热潮以来，约30年后，这一隐藏危险的真实程度被揭露也就不足为奇了。然而，这种剧毒物质在一些国家仍在继续生产和使用，而在另一些国家，历史用途产生的废物（通常是填埋）的处理方式，往好里说是不便操作，往坏里说是不安全。我们通过三个案例研究来说明石棉问题的全球规模，这些案例研究描述了各种清除和/或最终处置问题。这些来自工业化国家和岛国的案例研究表明，有可能产生大量受石棉污染的土壤。在每个案例中，项目的最终结果都受到成本和土地可用性等因素的影响，而这两个因素在全球范围内都日益突出。减少含石棉材料的产生并不能免除我们处理和处置受污染土地的必要性。依赖物理化学过程的废物处理成本高昂，且无助于实现循环经济的理想模式。尽管石棉是一种矿物质，但存在自然发生的生物介导的降解过程（如生物风化）。因此，值得探索低能耗的选择，如生物修复，来处理受石棉污染的土壤。我们概述了微生物和植物群落能够从石棉中去除导致其致癌性的铁的证据。最后，我们描述了在石棉填埋场上创建生态系统（“活化填埋场”）这一新颖概念的潜力，该概念利用自然的螯合能力有效降解这种有毒产品。
