Inappropriate handlings of informal e-waste processing have increasingly become a global
environmental and public health issue of concern. This study was conducted to quantify the
concentrations of five heavy metals found in the environmental media at an exposed village
and a reference village in Northern Vietnam. The correlations between a pair of the heavy
metals found in a medium, and between a pair of the environmental media was found. The
results showed that drinking water was safe for heavy metal exposure in both studied villages.
However, at the exposed village, the levels of the heavy metals found in indoor soil were, in
descending order, Pb (678.42 ± 846.11 mg kg-1
) > Ni (148.77± 163.80 mg kg-1
) > Cr (61.99 ±
42.50 mg kg-1
) > As (7.62 ± 3.33 mg kg-1
) > Cd (6.34 ± 12.39 mg kg-1
). The levels of Pb, Cd,
Cr, and Ni in indoor soil and surface dust in the exposed village were significantly higher than
those in the reference village at p<0.001. The average concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni and As
in indoor soil were 3.57, 8.78, 1.90, 4.41, and 1.08 times, respectively, higher than those in
outdoor soil at p<0.001. The levels of Pb and Cd found in indoor soil at the exposed village
were 9.69 and 3.17 time, respectively, higher than the maximum allowable limits in Vietnam. Etc...
Keywords
E-waste; Environmental pollution; Indoor soil; Outdoor soil; Heavy metals; Vietnamese village