Scoping Review of the Environmental and Human Health Effects of Rural Alaska Landfills

TL;DR

This review examines how landfills in rural Alaska affect public health and the environment, highlighting risks to Indigenous communities and the need for better waste management.

Contribution

The paper identifies key research gaps and emphasizes the importance of integrating Indigenous Knowledge with Western science for future studies in Arctic waste management.

Findings

Landfill leachate may contaminate surface water and groundwater in rural Alaska.

Wildlife consuming garbage from landfills poses health risks to subsistence-based communities.

Research gaps include individual-level exposures and mechanisms of contaminant transport.

Abstract

Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue?
This work reviews articles related to landfills in rural Alaska communities and may guide future research related to gaps identified in this review.Unlined landfills lacking leachate collection systems may impact public health.

This work reviews articles related to landfills in rural Alaska communities and may guide future research related to gaps identified in this review.

Unlined landfills lacking leachate collection systems may impact public health.

Public health significance—Why is this work of significance to public health?
This work identifies several potential disease transmission and chemical exposure pathways associated with such landfills, which are primarily found in rural and tribal communities already facing significant health disparities.If harvested, birds, fish, other animals and plants living, growing, or feeding by open surface area landfills could present public health implications for Indigenous and other hunting populations via ingestion or contact with waste pathogens or chemicals.

This work identifies several potential disease transmission and chemical exposure pathways associated with such landfills, which are primarily found in rural and tribal communities already facing significant health disparities.

If harvested, birds, fish, other animals and plants living, growing, or feeding by open surface area landfills could present public health implications for Indigenous and other hunting populations via ingestion or contact with waste pathogens or chemicals.

Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policy makers and/or researchers in public health?
This review paper elucidates the need to continue to assess landfill contaminant transport, exposure pathways and risks and the unique challenges of solid waste management in rural Alaska and other Arctic environments.Future research directions regarding the risk to subsistence resources and the associated health implications for Alaska Native and other Arctic subsistence-based cultures should prioritize community-based, co-produced research that integrates Indigenous Knowledge with Western science. This approach is crucial for addressing the existing health disparities and unique environmental exposures faced by these communities.

This review paper elucidates the need to continue to assess landfill contaminant transport, exposure pathways and risks and the unique challenges of solid waste management in rural Alaska and other Arctic environments.

Future research directions regarding the risk to subsistence resources and the associated health implications for Alaska Native and other Arctic subsistence-based cultures should prioritize community-based, co-produced research that integrates Indigenous Knowledge with Western science. This approach is crucial for addressing the existing health disparities and unique environmental exposures faced by these communities.

Landfill contaminants pose significant risks to environmental and human health, particularly in rural Alaska. These communities are predominantly Alaska Native and face unique challenges in solid waste management due to geography, climate, and limited infrastructure. This scoping review assessed published research on the impacts of landfill contaminants in the Arctic (Aim 1) and Alaska specifically (Aim 2). Seventy-one studies met the inclusion criteria, all of which were used to develop a conceptual model of contaminant transport pathways. Thirty-nine studies included Alaska-specific research: thirty-three focused on environmental impacts, and six addressed human health (e.g., birth outcomes, cancer). Key topics included waste burning, heat generation, carbon release, leachate characterization, and water or sediment contamination. Evidence specific to Alaska suggested landfill leachate may contaminate surface water and groundwater, and that microbes can migrate beyond the landfill site boundaries in communities using honeybuckets (plastic bag-lined buckets that collect human waste). Landfill contaminants also impacted wildlife through consumption of garbage, which may have human health implications for subsistence-based communities. Major research gaps remain in understanding individual-level exposures, the effects of emerging contaminants, and the mechanisms of contaminant transport pathways. Further research designed for causal inference is needed to support improvements to public and environmental health.

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