Coastal historic landfills

Research examined the current and future pollution risk of coastal historic landfills to protect the surrounding environment.

1 School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom

3 Geography, King’s College London, United Kingdom

The research, led by a team from the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) between 2013 and 2024, examined the current and future pollution risk of coastal historic landfills (CHL). CHL are landfills which pre-date modern environmental regulation and waste management technologies. There are over 1,000 historic landfills on the coast at increasing risk of being impacted by erosion and sea level rise. The findings from the research helped to inform policy and practice, raised awareness and informed decision-making at various levels.

The project led to 3 main outputs. The first was a national dataset which defined over 1,200 CHL sites at risk of tidal flooding and erosion, and 30% of coastal environmentally sensitive areas at risk (Brand et al., 2018). The second output was ecological impact evidence which concluded that the release of soluble and solid wastes (including microplastics which are small particles less than 5 mm in diameter) into the marine environment could significantly harm ecological health (Brand and Spencer, 2019; 2020). The third output was a risk screening tool that can be used by Coastal Protection Authorities to prioritise sites for remediation and management in England (Brand and Spencer, 2018).