Heavy metals and major nutrients accumulation pattern in spinach grown in farm and industrial contaminated soils and health risk assessment

A pot experiment was conducted to study heavy metals and major nutrients accumulation pattern and to assess possible health risk for adult male and female human through consumption of spinach grown in farm and industrial contaminated soils. The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cr and Pb in aqueous extracts of leaves and roots were determined by an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The present study revealed that spinach grown in both soils accumulated higher amount of Cr, which could pose potential health concern to the local residents. On the contrary, it could be a good source of S, Ca and Mg for adult male and female human. Accumulation of heavy metals and major nutrients in leaves of spinach was in the sequence of Fe > Zn > Cr > Mn > Cu > Pb and K > S > Ca > Mg > P, respectively for industrial contaminated soil, while the order was Fe > Mn > Cr > Zn > Cu > Pb and S > K > Ca > Mg ≥ P, respectively for farm soil. The sequence of Zn, Mn, Ca, K and S accumulation in spinach was leaf > root. But in case of Fe, Cr and P the order of accumulation pattern was reverse. Among the metals, the calculated THQ value for Cr surpassed 1, and the values for male were 2.85 and 6.86 and for female were 4.47 and 10.75 due to consumption of spinach grown in farm and industrial contaminated soils, respectively. The study results inferred that Cr health risk through consumption of spinach is unsafe in industrial contaminated sites; and in both places female is more vulnerable than male

Strategies of managing solid waste and energy recovery for a developing country – A review

Solid waste is considered one of the major pollutants of both water and surface worldwide. The growing global population, urban expansion, and industrial growth are the main reasons for solid waste generation. This has become a major challenge with both regional and worldwide consequences. The yearly generation of municipal solid wastes around the world is 2.01 BT (billion tons) among which about 33 % are not ecologically handled. To address this, proper solid waste management, especially recycling waste products, is crucial to achieving sustainability. High-income countries are able to recycle 51 % of their waste, while low-income countries only recycle 16 % of their waste. Inadequate solid waste management practices can only compound environmental and social problems. To handle these issues thermochemical and biochemical methods are used to convert solid waste to energy. Thermochemical method is suitable for developing countries though it is energy extensive. This review provides a detailed analysis of developing countries' solid waste management and energy recovery. It explores energy recovery technologies, including thermochemical and biochemical waste conversion processes