Contamination of indoor dust and air by polychlorinated biphenyls and brominated flame retardants and relevance of non-dietary exposure in Vietnamese informal e-waste recycling sites

Abstract

This study investigated the occurrence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and several additive brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in indoor dust and air from two Vietnamese informal e-waste recycling sites (EWRSs) and an urban site in order to assess the relevance of these media for human exposure. The levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), 1,2-bis-(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane (BTBPE) and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) in settled house dust from the EWRSs (130-12,000, 5.4-400, 5.2-620 and 31-1400 ng g(-1), respectively) were significantly higher than in urban house dust but the levels of PCBs (4.8-320 ng g(-1)) were not higher. The levels of PCBs and PBDEs in air at e-waste recycling houses (1000-1800 and 620-720 pg m(-3), respectively), determined using passive sampling, were also higher compared with non-e-waste houses. The composition of BFRs in EWRS samples suggests the influence from high-temperature processes and occurrence of waste materials containing older BFR formulations. Results of daily intake estimation for e-waste recycling workers are in good agreement with the accumulation patterns previously observed in human milk and indicate that dust ingestion contributes a large portion of the PBDE intake (60%-88%), and air inhalation to the low-chlorinated PCB intake (>80% for triCBs) due to their high levels in dust and air, respectively. Further investigation of both indoor dust and air as the exposure media for other e-waste recycling-related contaminants and assessment of health risk associated with exposure to these contaminant mixtures is necessary.

Indoor Level of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in the Home Environment and Assessment of Human Health Risks

“…Table 2 shows airborne PBDE concentrations in residential houses, apartments, offices, daycare centers, cars, public facilities, and schools according to currently published and the present data. The levels of airborne PBDEs in residences are lower in Taiwan than in Sweden , Vietnam (in houses near backyard electronic (e)-waste recycling sites; Tue et al, 2013), Korea (Lim et al, 2014), and the United States (Allen et al, 2007;Bennett et al, 2014), and slightly higher in Taiwan than Japan (Takigami et al, 2009), United Kingdom , Sweden (in apartments; Thuresson et al, 2012), Vietnam (in houses in suburban and rural areas; Tue et al, 2013), and Australia (Toms et al, 2009). Compared to their levels in other microenvironments listed in Table 2, PBDE levels in the houses or apartments (except Vietnamese houses near backyard e-waste recycling sites) were lower.…”

Pollution Characteristics and Diurnal Variations in Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Indoor and Outdoor Air from Vehicle Dismantler Factories in Southern Taiwan

“…The inverse result was reported in a recent Chinese study, which revealed that PBDE concentrations in outdoor air in a community in Gungzhou in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) were notably higher than those in indoor air (Ding et al, 2016). Extremely high levels of PBDEs in the indoor and outdoor air have also been found in e-waste workplaces steelmaking plants and dismantling areas (Hearn et al, 2012;Tue et al, 2013;Ren et al, 2014;Li et al, 2015;Xu et al, 2015). Workers near an automotive shredding and metal recycling plants were assessed to be two times higher to be likely to be exposed to PBDEs compared with Australians in their home environments (Hearn et al, 2012).…”

A review of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) pollution in indoor air environment

“…In eq 2 I air means the inhalation rate and is usually set to 16 m 3 /d (EPA, 2008); C air;i represents the concentration in air of microenvironment i, and F i is the fraction of time spent in place i. Compared with the exposure pathway of dust ingestion, the contribution of inhalation was higher, especially for di-tetra CBs (Tue et al, 2013).…”