Waste management and public health: the state of the evidence

Conclusions

The data collected about waste are not detailed enough to make meaningful assessments of potential health impacts that might arise from waste management practices. The data do not include detailed information about the composition of the waste collected nor of off-site emissions from waste management operations. Accurate exposure assessments are not possible without such data.

The nature of existing epidemiological research in this area is such that most studies are useful for generating hypotheses but are unable to test the hypotheses or to provide convincing evidence of an association between exposure and a health impact.

For most waste management methods, the evidence is insufficient to claim that adverse health outcomes will result. The exception is the convincing evidence that bathing in sewage contaminated recreational waters increases the risk of gastrointestinal symptoms, even when the water meets present guideline levels of faecal coliforms.

Implementation of the current Waste Hierarchy and the Precautionary Principle through the adoption of an integrated waste management strategy at national, regional and local level will be the most effective way to reduce the health risks from waste management procedures.