Municipal Solid Waste Landfills: An Underestimated Source of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in the Water Environment

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) have been the focus of increasing concern in recent decades due to their ubiquity in the environment and potential risks. Out-of-date PPCPs are usually discharged into municipal solid wastes (MSWs), enter the leachates in MSW landfills, and have serious adverse effects on the surrounding water environment. However, the occurrence and removal of PPCPs from landfill leachates have rarely been examined to date. This lack of knowledge makes the landfill an underestimated source of PPCPs in the environment. In this review, we collected the relevant publications of PPCPs in landfill leachates, systematically summarized the occurrence of PPCPs in landfill leachates globally, evaluated the removal performances for various PPCPs by different types of on-site full-scale leachate treatment processes, and assessed the impacts of landfill leachates on PPCPs in the adjacent groundwater. In particular, influencing factors for PPCPs in landfill leachates, including the physicochemical properties of PPCPs, climate conditions, and characteristics of landfill sites (i.e., landfill ages) as well as sociological factors (i.e., economic development), were extensively discussed to understand their occurrence patterns. Future perspectives were also proposed in light of the identified knowledge gaps. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review regarding the occurrence and removal of PPCPs from landfill leachates worldwide.