Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446

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Journal of Hazardous Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhazmat

Global landfill leachate characteristics: Occurrences and abundances of

environmental contaminants and the microbiome
Youfen Qian a, b, 1, Pengfei Hu a, b, 1, Naama Lang-Yona b, Meiying Xu c, Changhong Guo d,
Ji-Dong Gu a, b, e, *
a
Environmental Science and Engineering Research Group, Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, 241 Daxue Road, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China
b
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 320003, Israel
c
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangdong
Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510070, China
d
Key Laboratory of Molecular Cytogenetics and Genetic Breeding of Heilongjiang Province, College of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Normal University, Harbin,
Heilongjiang 150025, China
e
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, 241 Daxue Road,
Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• Large regional variations are detected

among 318 landfill leachates globally.
• Heavy metals and new emerging con-
taminants are prevalent in leachates.
• Major microbes driving nitrogen turn-
over are identified in leachate
treatment.
• Correlation exists between specific mi-
croorganisms and leachate parameters.
• Leachate parameters are determinants
for the specific microbes.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Editor: Maria Sonia Rodriguez-Cruz Landfill leachates are complex mixtures containing very high concentrations of biodegradable and recalcitrant
toxic compounds. Understanding the major contaminant components and microbial community signatures in
global landfill leachates is crucial for timely decision-making regarding contaminant management and treatment.
Therefore, this study analyzed leachate data from 318 landfill sites primarily used for municipal solid waste
Keywords:
disposal, focusing on their chemical and microbiological characteristics. The most prevalent and dominant
Heavy metals
Emerging contaminants
components in landfill leachates are the chemical oxygen demand (COD, 3.7–75.9 × 103 mg/L) and NH+ 4
Global distribution (0.03–0.81 × 104 mg/L), followed by salt species such as SO2- 3 - 3
4 (0.03–5.25 × 10 mg/L), Cl (3.2–7.8 × 10 mg/L),

* Corresponding author at: Environmental Science and Engineering Research Group, Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, 241 Daxue Road,
Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China.
E-mail address: jidong.gu@gtiit.edu.cn (J.-D. Gu).
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132446
Received 8 February 2023; Received in revised form 13 August 2023; Accepted 29 August 2023
Available online 4 September 2023
0304-3894/© 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Y. Qian et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446

Microbial composition K+ (0.58–4.20 × 103 mg/L), Na+ (1.3–13.0 × 103 mg/L) and Ca2+ (2.35–230.23 × 103 mg/L), which exhibit
Nitrogen turnover significant fluctuations. Heavy metals and metalloids are widely distributed in most landfill leachates but at
relatively low concentrations (<182.8 mg/L) compared to conventional parameters. Importantly, there is a
distinct global variation in the occurrence of emerging environmental contaminants (ECs). Among these com-
pounds, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, 0.02–7.50 × 103 μg/L) of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS),
bisphenol A (BPA, 0.01–33.46 × 103 μg/L) belonged to endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), together with
di-ethyltoluamide (DEET, 1.0–1.0 × 103 μg/L) affiliated to pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs)
are the most frequently detected in landfill leachates. Additionally, the microbial community compositions in
most leachates are primarily dominated by Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, and Chloroflexi, and some
- -
of their abundances are correlated with the concentrations of NH+ 4 , NO3, Cl , Na and Cr. Notably, the leading
+

microbes driving advanced removal of inorganic nitrogen in the treatment systems are Candidatus Brocadia
(anammox), denitrifying Thauera, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria Nitrospira, along with ammonia-oxidizing bacteria
Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira. The findings of this work provide a deeper insight into the leachate characteristics
and the sustainable management of landfill leachates, especially presenting a snapshot of the global distribution
of pollutants and also the microbiome.

1. Introduction communities [84,102]. However, majority of the reported studies only

Landfills serve as the primary disposal sites for large quantities of
consumer products at the end of their useful life [43]. The quantity of
municipal solid wastes (MSWs) is projected to reach 3600 million tons
by 2050, exerting tremendous pressure on available land space and
leachate treatment [16,67]. Landfill leachate is a highly contaminated
wastewater containing a wide range of pollutants, including heavy
metals, inorganic salts, nitrogen compounds, together with other toxic
and newly emerging pollutants [14]. The diverse physicochemical and
biological characteristics of landfill leachates are associated with the
types of waste materials, landfill age, and construction methods [89].
Landfill leachate contains multiple detrimental emerging contami-
nants (ECs), including per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS),
pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), and endocrine-
disrupting compounds (EDCs) [94]. Owing to their unique properties
such as hydrophobicity, lipophilicity, and high chemical stability, PFAS
is persistent in leachate treatment systems [44]. PPCPs have raised
concerns regarding their toxic impacts on living organisms, their
contribution to the worldwide spread of antibiotic resistance genes
(ARGs) [97], and the mobility and leakage of leachate that may exac-
erbate the dispersal of these contaminants into surface sediment and
groundwater [61]. Similarly, EDCs have also received increasingly
public attention due to their widely occurrence in landfill leachates and
natural ecosystems, particularly their endocrine-disrupting effects on
animals and public health [94]. As a result, there are extensive in-
vestigations on various individual types of pollutants, including works
on heavy metals [22,35], PFAS [43,98], EDCs [62,71], and PPCPs [95,
101], along with other conventional nutrients such as BOD/COD, ni-
trogen, and phosphorus. Also, most efforts have focused only on the
leachates discharged from several local landfill sites, leaving a gap in
scientific knowledge on the comprehensive understanding of the
occurrence and distribution of pollutants in landfill leachates around the
world.
Microorganisms are the main processors for material transformation
of both toxic and non-toxic materials in various ecosystems, including
landfills and leachate treatment plants. Their metabolic capacity to
mineralize and detoxify specific leachate chemicals is essential for
pollutant removal and water purification by degrading carbonaceous
and nitrogenous compounds in the leachates [8,53]. For instance, two
strains of Novosphingobium with the potential to degrade aromatic hy-
drocarbons were isolated from landfill leachate [26]. Currently, an
increasing number of studies has taken advantage of the
culture-independent techniques (e.g., high-throughput sequencing) over
the conventional culture-dependent (traditional isolation and cultiva-
tion) one to detect and reveal the whole microbial community and
composition in landfill leachates [19,28]. The recent advances in
application of sequencing technologies to analyze landfill leachates have
unveiled a variable and complex, but very unique, microbial
include one or two types of landfill sites, and there is a lack of systematic
analysis of microbial community characteristics in landfill leachates
from different countries worldwide, especially with regard to metabol-
ically functional microbes involved in the removal of nutrients such as
nitrogen. Furthermore, landfill physicochemical parameters such as
NH+ 4 , total nitrogen (TN), salinity, pH, and others have been identified as
important driving forces shaping and influencing the microbial com-
munity structure through canonical correlation analysis (CCA) [102],
redundancy analysis (RDA) [68], and principal component analysis
(PCA) [72]. Profiling the relationship between specific microbial groups
and leachate parameters can provide valuable information about mi-
crobial ecophysiology and survival strategies in landfill leachates, thus
enhancing our understanding of treatment and management schemes in
the future.
This study sought to provide an overview of the contaminant dis-
tribution in landfill leachates, as well as its microbial community
composition and the potential taxa involved in nitrogen removal glob-
ally. Here, available data were compiled from published research arti-
cles to comprehensively analyze the occurrence and distribution of
various chemical contaminants in landfill leachates across different
continents and countries, covering conventional pollutants, heavy
metals, metalloids, and EDCs of public concerns. Additionally, we
retrieved raw amplicon sequences of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
gene from published databases to uncover the microbial community
compositions in landfill leachates on a global scale, with a focus on the
functional microbes involved in advanced nitrogen treatment. Finally,
correlation analysis was conducted to delineate the association between
microorganisms and leachate parameters. An examination of the avail-
able public literature reveals that this work is the first to integrate
conventional contaminants, heavy metals, emerging contaminants, and
microbial community signatures, thus providing comprehensive infor-
mation about global landfill leachates for future management and
treatment of pollutants.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Public data acquisition for pollutants in landfill leachates
To assess the current status of pollutant types and distributions in
global landfill leachates, the published research articles (available on-
line before September 2022) were searched from databases such as Web
of Science, Google Scholar, Elsevier, and PubMed. The following search
terms were used to browse in the database: “leachate & endocrine-
disrupting compounds”, “leachate & pharmaceuticals and personal
care products”, “leachate & per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances”,
“leachate & heavy metal”, and “leachate & emerging pollutants”. After
receiving the full text, we first read the description of landfill sites in the
Materials and Methods section of each article to determine if the

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Y. Qian et al.
leachate was discharged from the landfills, excluding studies on soil
leachate. Subsequently, data were collected from tables and supple-
mentary tables instead of relying solely on the information provided in
figures, as detailed contaminant concentrations are often not captured in
figures. When collecting pollutant information of landfill leachates, we
recorded general parameters such as pH, conductivity (EC), chemical
oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), ammonium
(NH+ 4 ), and total nitrogen (TN) as a group, rather than searching for each
parameter separately. The relevant articles were then manually exam-
ined and the duplicated data were eliminated to avoid redundancy in the
final dataset. As a result, we collected 65 relevant studies with 318
landfill leachate sites worldwide (Table S1). From the collected infor-
mation, it appears that most landfills generating leachate primarily
receive municipal solid wastes (MSWs), whereas a few receive both
household waste and nonhazardous industrial waste due to the lack of
strict waste sorting (Tables S3 and S4).
2.2. Microbial data collection of landfill leachate sites or plants
Bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences from the GenBank
database (data accessed by September 2022) were retrieved using the
SRA Toolkit. The keywords “landfill leachate” or “((landfill leachate)
AND heavy metal) AND microbial community” or “((landfill leachate)
AND pollutants) AND microbial community” or “landfill leachate mi-
crobial community” were searched in the SRA database to obtain raw
reads. We also recorded the physicochemical parameters corresponding
to the microbial data as much as possible in the sources of Web of Sci-
ence, Google Scholar and Elsevier, because such information is generally
unavailable in the GenBank database. In the end, a total of 339 microbial
SRAs (Sequence Read Archive) were retrieved from publicly available
datasets (Table S2). Among them, 68 microbial SRAs had corresponding
physicochemical properties, including general leachate parameters and
heavy metal concentrations, but no information on toxic and hazardous
pollutants was available (Table S3).
2.3. Bioinformatic analysis
The raw sequence reads were processed and analyzed using a pre-
viously described bioinformatics pipeline [65] with the open-source
QIIME (Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology) software [13].
First, the raw data were filtered to remove low-quality reads and
generate amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) using the DADA2 denoising
algorithm [11] as implemented in QIIME2. To maximize the data
available for downstream analyses, a re-sampling depth of 30.052 × 103
reads per sample was applied for bacterial analysis. Taxonomic assign-
ments of the presentive bacterial ASV sequences were conducted using
the classifier of SILVA database (version 138) [66]. However, comam-
mox bacteria could not be fully classified because the SILVA database
was incomplete. Sequences belonging to the Nitrospirota phylum were
extracted from the QIIME2 output sequence table using Python (version
3.9) and manually re-assigned based on BLAST using the 16S rRNA gene
of the four currently available species (Candidatus Nitrospira nitrosa,
Candidatus Nitrospira inopinata, Candidatus Nitrospira nitrificans, and
Candidatus Nitrosoglobus). Denitrifiers, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria
(AOB), ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), and anammox bacteria were
manually confirmed from the ASV tables using information from liter-
ature reports. The microbial community compositions were visualized
using the barplot module in HUMAnN 3.0 [7].
2.4. Compilation of physicochemical parameters and correlation analysis
The concentrations of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS),
endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceuticals and personal
care products (PPCPs), heavy metals, and metalloids, along with their
corresponding general parameters, are summarized in Table S4. To
visualize the global distribution of each pollutant in landfill leachate, the
3
Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446
figures were plotted based on the maximum concentration of a specific
pollutant in each country, as this value is less influenced by the number
of sampling campaigns. The distribution of pollutants on a world map
was implemented on the R platform (version 4.0.4) by the packages,
including ggheatmap (version 2.1) and ggpubr (version 0.4.0), sp (version
1.4–5), ggplot2 (version 3.3.3), ggmap (version 3.0.0) and maptools
(version1.1–1). The relationships between microorganisms and physi-
cochemical properties were inferred based on the Spearman correlation
matrix using the R package psych (version 2.1.9), and then the re-
lationships with significant correlation (r > 0.6 or r < –0.6, p < 0.05)
were selected to visualize by R package pheatmap (version 1.0.12).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Temporal and geographical pattern of MSW production
Landfill leachate is a dark-colored toxic liquid containing a complex
mixture of chemical constituents, which are formed through the inter-
action between water (rainfall, groundwater, surface water, etc.) and
waste materials in landfills. Landfills receive the largest proportion of
municipal solid wastes (MSWs) in most regions, especially in developed
countries. The global amount of MSWs is projected to reach approxi-
mately 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025 [27], and it appears that this esti-
mated value may be surpassed much sooner than expected [63]. Over
the past few decades, the United States (US) has consistently produced a
high volume of MSWs, reaching 243 million tonnes in 2017 (Fig. 1,
Table S5). Similarly, China has also experienced significant increases in
the volumes of MSWs, reaching 215 million tonnes by 2017 due to rapid
urbanization and development. Certain countries that generate rela-
tively small amounts of MSWs, including Russia, Mexico, France,
Colombia, and Indonesia, have shown a consistent yearly increase
(Fig. 1, Table S5). With more than half of the MSWs being sent to
landfills in many countries (e.g., 52.6 % in the US in 2014, 54 % in
Australia and 56 % in China in 2017) [78,87], a large volume of leachate
containing various toxic pollutants is generated, thus highlighting the
urgent need for effective treatment strategies.
3.2. Conventional physicochemical characteristics in landfill leachates
This analysis was based on landfill leachate data from 318 landfill
sites in 24 countries (Table S1). Leachates exhibited a wide range of pH
values, typically between 4.5 and 10.8 (Table S4), which was likely
influenced by the landfill age [89]. For example, leachate from fresh
landfills (less than 5 years old), characterized by active fermentation and
acetogenic activity, typically displayed acidic pH values, whereas
leachate from active and mature landfills (over 10 years old) with
methanogenic activity tended to have alkaline pH values [87]. There-
fore, the pH condition can be generally used to estimate the develop-
mental stage of landfills, thus enabling adjustments to enhance
microbial fermentation and methanogenesis for leachate treatment.
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) content was notably high, partic-
ularly in China (0.5–75.9 g/L), the US (0.33–10.10 g/L), and India
(0.44–15.42 g/L) (Fig. 2A). Generally, the contents of biological oxygen
demand (BOD), total organic carbon (TOC), and dissolved organic car-
bon (DOC) followed a similar trend to the COD level. The content of
organic compounds in landfill leachate depends on various factors,
including the types of waste materials, waste moisture, landfill design,
compaction rate, waste decomposition rate, operational management,
and landfill age [58,89,90]. As the landfill ages, the BOD content de-
creases more rapidly than the COD content due to the accelerated
degradation of biodegradable waste. Consequently, the BOD/COD ratio
in the leachate of young landfills (0.4–0.6 or higher) is higher than that
of older landfills (0.05–0.20) [2]. Additionally, regional differences in
organic compounds may also be attributed to economic development (e.
g., industrial expansion), population density, and consumption patterns
[25,95]. Consumption patterns are reflected in variables such as average
Y. Qian et al.
Fig. 1. Global production trends of municipal solid wastes (MSWs) in different countries. Specific values are provided in Table S5.
annual per capita consumption expenditures of urban households on
food, clothing, housing, and services, which contribute to variations in
waste generation and contaminant composition in leachates [48,64].
Moreover, the generation rates of organic waste (e.g., plastics, paper,
textiles, and discarded food) are significantly correlated with population
density and household size [69,79].
- - 2- - 3-
Inorganic ions, generally including NH+ 4 , NO3, NO2, SO4 , Cl , PO4 ,
HCO-3, K+, Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+, and soluble Fe2+/ Fe3+ species are typical
constituents in landfill leachates [34] (Fig. 2). During the anaerobic
degradation of landfill waste, different functional microorganisms
convert insoluble biological polymers (e.g., paper, garden and vegetable
waste), as well as proteins and fats (animal matter) into soluble sugars
and amino acids. These are then hydrolyzed and fermented to fatty
acids, alcohol, and NH+ 4 , which accumulate in the leachate [9]. Among
these compounds, NH+ 4 is the most predominant and universal inorganic
species. High concentrations of NH+ 4 are observed in China (110.0–5.9 ×
103 mg/L), India (0.5–2.6 × 103 mg/L), the US (13.0–1.8 × 103 mg/L),
Portugal (~3.05 × 103 mg/L), Croatia (480.0–1.8 × 103 mg/L), the
Netherlands (0.03–8.10 × 103 mg/L) and Italy (~2.34 × 103 mg/L)
(Fig. 2A, Table S6). Additionally, SO2- -
4 and Cl contribute a substantial
portion of anions to landfill leachates. For example, high concentrations
of SO2- 3 3
4 are observed in India (3.30 × 10 –4.74 × 10 mg/L), China
3 3
(48.0–5.2 × 10 mg/L), the US (0.03–3.43 × 10 mg/L), Japan
(58.0–1.5 × 103 mg/L), and Lebanon (6.0–1.5 × 103 mg/L). The pres-
ence of SO2-4 in the leachate may be partly attributed to the addition of
sulfuric acid used in wastewater membrane treatment (e.g., nano-
filtration and reverse osmosis systems) to prevent clogs [23,41]. In this
process, most of the SO2- 4 is then transported into the concentrated
compartments and subsequently sprinkled on the surface of landfill
waste, leading to the gradual accumulation of SO2- 4 in landfill leachate
[49,81]. Similarly, Cl- is also widely distributed in leachates, with the
most notable examples being the US (3.0–7.2 × 103 mg/L), China
(1.69 × 103–2.52 × 103 mg/L), Portugal (~2.6 × 103 g/L), Nigeria
(30.0–3.1 × 103 mg/L), Malaysia (130–2 × 103 mg/L), Japan
(50.0–7.8 × 103 mg/L) and Poland (< 1.21 × 103 mg/L) (Fig. 2A,
Table S6). Regional variations in anion concentrations of landfill
leachate among countries may be influenced by local conditions, con-
sumption patterns, and waste management practices [80]. The income
levels of a country can also influence the composition of solid waste and
waste generation per capita, and further affect the distribution of anion
components in leachate. Moreover, anion concentrations may be diluted
4
Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446
in humid and rainy areas, whereas they may be elevated in less rainy and
arid regions [2].
Given that K+ and Na+ are typically retained in the leachate in their
soluble forms, they are rarely precipitated or adsorbed onto other sub-
stances [6] and exhibit extremely high concentrations, even up to
1.26–4.20 g/L and 1.0–13.0 g/L in Croatia (Fig. 2B, Table S7). Besides,
some leachates also contain substantial quantities of Ca2+, such as in
Lebanon (12.01 × 103–230.23 × 103 mg/L) and the US (2.0–4.1 × 103
mg/L) (Fig. 2B, Table S7). The high concentrations of these inorganic
cations and anions pose challenges to the biological processes involved
in leachate treatment.
3.3. Geographical distribution of metals and metalloids in landfill
leachates
The concentrations of metals and metalloids in landfill leachates
vary on a global scale, and their concentrations are generally low
compared to the aforementioned NH+ 4 and COD (Fig. 2). However, the
non-biodegradable nature of metal and metalloid elements allows them
to persist in landfill leachate for a long time, thus hindering effective
biological activity and treatment processes [88]. At first glance, China,
Japan, and the US exhibit relatively high concentrations of manganese
(Mn) (>10 mg/L) (Fig. 2B). This can be attributed to the large popula-
tion and low recovery rates in these countries, where e-waste containing
batteries are discarded into landfills instead of proper recycling, leading
to the release of significant amounts of Mn into the leachate [60].
Typical heavy metal species such as Cr, Ni, Cu, Cd, and Pb, with con-
centrations below 182.8 mg/L are ubiquitous in the landfill leachates
analyzed in this study (Fig. 2B, Table S7) due to non-segregated waste
dumping in many countries [39]. Regarding metalloids such as As and
Se, much lower concentrations below 7.7 mg/L were observed in landfill
leachates across multiple countries (Fig. 2B, Table S7), with Hg and Co
exhibiting similar levels. It should be noted that data on the distribution
of metals and metalloids in African countries are scarce or absent, which
is likely due to the limited acquisition of analytical techniques for
analysis and reporting rather than the actual absence of contaminants in
landfill leachates in these regions [31].
Y. Qian et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446

Fig. 2. The distributions of conventional parameters (A) and metal elements (B) in landfill leachates from different countries. The numbers in the circles represent
specific parameters. Maximum concentrations are indicated by a color gradient. A detailed list of concentrations is provided in Table S6 and Table S7.

3.4. Occurrence and abundance of emerging contaminants in landfill
leachates
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The occurrence of PFAS in
landfill leachates varies across different countries. From a regional
perspective, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is the most frequently
detected PFAS in landfill leachate samples from all eight countries
(Fig. 3A), with Australia (0.02–7.50 × 103 μg/L) and the US
(0.03–4.80 × 103 μg/L) exhibiting the highest concentrations, followed
by China (0.3–214.0 μg/L) and Finland (~76.2 μg/L) (Fig. 3A,
Table S8). Additionally, since these contaminants were extracted from
non-filtration leachates [24], other PFAS pollutants are also very serious
in Australia, with generally higher concentrations than in other coun-
tries. Moreover, some countries need to pay more attention to the hazard

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Y. Qian et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446

Fig. 3. The occurrences of emerging contaminants (ECs) in landfill leachates from different countries. The concentrations of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances
(PFAS) (A), endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) (B), and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) (C) in landfill leachates worldwide. Detailed
concentrations of these three types of pollutants are available in Table S7, Table S8, and Table S9.

of short-chain PFAS. For example, landfill leachates in China contain a
high concentration of perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), while
leachates in the US exhibit high concentrations of short-chain PFAS,
including perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), perfluoropentanoic acid
(PFPeA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluoroheptanoic acid
(PFHpA), and 3-perfluoropentyl propanoic acid (5:3 FTCA) (Fig. 3A).
Generally, exposure to PFAS leads to various adverse health effects, such
as immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, reproductive deficits, and pancreatic
tumors [20,86]. However, conventional activated sludge processes in
leachate treatment plants are ineffective for PFAS degradation due to
their unique molecular structure and strong C-F bond energy
(536 kJ/mol), which hinders biotransformation [56]. Therefore, addi-
tional effective treatment methods, including physical adsorption,
chemical catalysis, and membrane technology [4,10], can be imple-
mented in current treatment systems to effectively remove and/or
degrade PFAS.

6
Y. Qian et al.
Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs). The concentrations of EDCs
in landfill leachates are high and vary significantly between countries
(Fig. 3B). Bisphenol A (BPA), which has been linked to estrogenic effects
and symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in humans
[36,42], is the most frequently detected and abundant pollutant in the
US (0.63–6.38 × 103 μg/L), China (0.98–3.27 × 103 μg/L), Germany
(110–25 × 103 μg/L), Greece (~2.19 × 103 μg/L), and Italy (~33.46 ×
103 μg/L) (Fig. 3B, Table S9). The high concentration of BPA is attrib-
uted to its release from synthetic polymers/plastics and thermal paper in
landfills [55]. Additionally, the leachate samples collected from a
membrane process in China contained relatively high concentrations of
di-ethyl phthalate (DEP) and dimethyl phthalate (DMP), with concen-
tration ranges of 1.0–1.4 × 103 μg/L and 1.0–1.7 × 103 μg/L, respec-
tively (Fig. 3B, Table S9). These compounds are common plasticizers
used in plastic products, and their concentration can be as high as 40 %
by weight in commercial PVC. Previous studies have shown that
long-term exposure to DEP induces reproductive toxicity, develop-
mental toxicity, and hepatic effects in organisms even at low doses
(0.173 mg/kg-day) [85]. Likewise, DMP has been linked to neurotoxic,
reproductive, and endocrine-disruptive responses [18]. These results
emphasize the need for comprehensive removal of EDCs during landfill
leachate treatment to prevent unpredictable risks upon discharge into
the surrounding environment [95,101].
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). The concentra-
tions of PPCPs in landfill leachates also vary considerably among
different countries. The three most abundant compounds identified in
US landfill leachates are diethyltoluamide (DEET, 7.0–1.0 × 103 μg/L),
acetaminophen (< 117 μg/L), and nicotine (0.06–61.40 μg/L) (Fig. 3C,
Table S10). Similarly, landfill leachates in Germany exhibit relatively
high concentrations of nicotine (110–960 μg/L), caffeine (5–430 μg/L),
cotinine (88–180 μg/L), and propyphenazone (1–140 μg/L). Singapor-
ean landfill leachates also show a significantly higher concentration of
acetaminophen (~2.204 × 103 μg/L). In China, the dominant com-
pounds in landfill leachates are caffeine (0.03–586.0 μg/L), sulpiride
(1.6–546.0 μg/L), and ibuprofen (0.3–137.8 μg/L), with many other
pharmaceuticals present at concentrations higher than 20 μg/L,
including clofibric acid, diethyltoluamide, erythromycin, sulfadiazine,
ofloxacin, norfloxacin, and diclofenac (Fig. 3C, Table S10). The regional
variations in PPCPs in landfill leachate are closely related to the complex
of physical absorption, chemical transformation, and biodegradation
processes that occur in landfills [1,87]. Physical absorption, which is
influenced by the hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of PPCPs,
affects the fate and mobility of these compounds in the landfill envi-
ronment, causing them to either bind selectively to waste or enter the
leachate with water [45,74]. Redox or chelating reactions between
PPCPs and metal elements in landfills can also influence the chemical
transformation and mobilization of contaminants [15]. The resistance of
PPCPs to microbial biodegradation in waste may determines the extent
to which they migrate into leachate. For example, compounds like gli-
clazide and glyburide are difficult to decompose in landfills [50,96].
PPCPs have been detected in various environmental matrices such as
streams [3], domestic wastewater [91], and sewage treatment plants
[76]. The wide distribution of PPCPs in leachate can be attributed to two
reasons: (i) waste from hospitals and pharmaceutical manufacturers
being transferred to landfills without following public health regula-
tions, and (ii) the disposal of unused and expired PPCPs in landfills
alongside regular household waste, where long-term chemical and bio-
logical processes lead to the release of PPCPs from solid waste into
leachate [47]. Due to the widespread use of PPCPs and the challenges in
regulating and controlling strategies, their occurrence and distribution
in the ecosystem can have pronounced impacts on both ecosystem and
human health [17]. Moreover, some transformation intermediates of
PPCPs exhibit higher toxicity than the parent compounds, even at low
concentrations (ng/L) they have high biological activity to affect health
of living organisms and also to induce antibiotic resistance in native
microbial populations [38].
7
Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446
3.5. Microbial composition and nitrogen-transforming networks
We analyzed the prevalence and abundance of taxa based on mi-
crobial raw sequences obtained from 339 landfill leachate samples from
different countries (Table S2). The data revealed that most leachate
samples contained species from the four dominant phyla: Proteobac-
teria, Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, and Chloroflexi. However, the relative
abundances of these phyla varied significantly among the samples
(Fig. 4A). Consistent with previous studies [32,102], these four phyla
were found to be the predominant bacteria in landfill leachates
regardless of geographical location. Additionally, certain microorgan-
isms appeared to be specific to particular landfill leachate types or lo-
cations. For instance, Actinobacteriota and Patescibacteria exhibited a
higher proportion in several leachates from Norway and Greece
compared to other regional leachates (Fig. 4A). These results suggest
that, although typical microorganisms are ubiquitously present in all
landfill leachates, their abundance can vary depending on the properties
of the landfill leachates [70].
Leachate treatment systems harbor a significant number of micro-
organisms [93], but their metabolism and functions are often poorly
understood. However, based on our previous findings in wastewater and
leachate treatment plants [5,52,92], we can speculate the role of mi-
croorganisms in nitrogen cycling. Ammonium, a common pollutant in
landfill leachates, can reach concentration as high as 8.1 × 103 mg/L
(Fig. 2A, Table S6). Therefore, we analyzed the microorganisms
involved in ammonium transformation, including denitrifiers,
ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB),
nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), complete ammonia oxidation
(comammox) bacteria, and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox)
bacteria (Fig. 4B–E). Notably, in these leachate treatment systems, the
main process of ammonium oxidation to nitrite is carried out by AOB,
such as Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira, rather than AOA (Fig. 4C, and E).
The resulting nitrite is then utilized through three primary biochemical
pathways: denitrification of nitrite to dinitrogen by Thauera (Fig. 4D,
and E), the oxidation of nitrite to nitrate by Nitrospira ( Fig. 4D, and E),
and the coupling of nitrite with ammonium to form dinitrogen (N2) by
Candidatus Brocadia (anammox) (Fig. 4C, and E). Additionally,
comammox species, such as Candidatus Nitrospira nitrosa, Candidatus
Nitrospira inopinata, and Candidatus Nitrospira nitrificans, can directly
convert ammonium to nitrate, but their abundance in the leachate
treatment systems is much lower compared to other
nitrogen-transforming members (Fig. 4D). These findings suggest that
the removal of ammonium in landfill leachate primarily occurs through
the combined action of AOB, NOB, denitrifiers, and the anammox pro-
cess. Thus, a complex network of nitrogen transformation reactions
involving multiple microorganisms [40] is responsible for ammonium
removal in landfill leachates (Fig. 4E).
The anammox process has garnered considerable attention due to its
potential for energy savings, low sludge generation, and low greenhouse
gas emission rates compared to conventional nitrification/denitrifica-
tion processes [53]. However, this technology still faces several note-
worthy challenges, including the slow growth rate of anammox bacteria
(about one week) and their sensitivity to environmental conditions such
as temperature, pH, organic matter, dissolved oxygen (DO), as well as
their affinity for ammonium and nitrite [51,83]. Various strategies have
been implemented to maintain the biomass of anammox bacteria and
render them less sensitive to adverse environmental conditions, thus
ultimately improving nitrogen removal. These strategies include gran-
ulation [75], anoxic moving bed reactors [46], gel entrapment [30], and
membrane technology [37]. Given that landfill leachate contains humic
acid, heavy metals, and refractory compounds, these strategies should
be further tested and improved through field engineering practices.
Y. Qian et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446

Fig. 4. Microbial community composition in global landfill leachate and specific microorganisms involved in the nitrogen cycle. (A) Relative abundance of microbes
at the phylum level, grouped by countries. (B) Relative abundance of denitrifiers in landfill leachates at the genus level. (C) Relative abundance of comammox
bacteria, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), and anammox bacteria in landfill leachate systems. (D) Average relative abundance
of microorganisms involved in the nitrogen turnover. (E) Summary of microorganisms most likely to participate in the nitrogen cycle, which is important for the
removal of ammonium from landfill leachates.

3.6. Correlation between environmental variables and microbial
communities
Spearman’s rank-order correlation test was conducted to statistically
analyze the relationships between leachate parameters and microbial
communities based on the abundance of genera. Since the microbial
data from the literature only included conventional physicochemical
properties and metal elements without any ECs (Table S3), we focused
on the relationship between the microbial community and the first two
types of leachate parameters (conventional physicochemical properties
and metal elements). In total, 185 bacteria were associated with pH, 16
- 2- -
with NH+ 4 , 93 with NO3, 22 with TN, 5 with SO4 , and 13 with Cl
(Table S11). Among these, Candidatus_Megaira (r = –0.66, p < 0.05),
Mitochondria (r = –0.67, p < 0.05), Candidatus Komeilibacteria

8
Y. Qian et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446

(r = –0.63, p < 0.05) exhibited a negative correlation with ammonium,
suggesting that these bacteria are sensitive to the available NH+ 4 . An
NH+ 4 concentration between 0.05 and 0.20 g/L favors microbial meta-
bolism, whereas concentrations between 1.5 and 3.0 g/L have an
inhibitory effect on the microbial anaerobic process, and concentrations
above 3.0 g/L have a toxic effect on microbial growth [33,87]. The high
NH+ 4 concentrations that typically occur in landfill leachates may
adversely affect the biochemical reaction of some microorganisms.
Additionally, NO-3 is generally considered less toxic to living organisms
than NH+ 4 [12], and the NH4 concentration (Max. 8.1 g/L) is much
+
-
higher than NO3 (Max. 0.254 g/L) (Fig. 2A), suggesting that NH+ 4 (less than 5 years old, pH 5–6) [87].
toxicity is further exacerbated by its extremely high concentration in
landfill leachate. The concentration of SO2-
4 is positively correlated with
Dechlorobacter (r = 0.60, p < 0.05), Halocella (r = 0.61, p < 0.05),
Arcobacter (r = 0.81, p < 0.05), Comamonas (r = 0.60, p < 0.05), and
Petrimonas (r = 0.61, p < 0.05) (Fig. 5, Table S11). Our previous find-
ings demonstrated that Petrimonas can work synergistically with Desul-
fovibrio to promote the degradation of organic pollutants with sulfate as
the sole electron acceptor [65].
The composition of microbial communities and dominant bacteria
exhibit distinct variations with changes in pH at different landfill ages
[89]. Nitrospira, a nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, exhibited positive
correlations with pH (r = 0.64, p < 0.05) in landfill leachates (Fig. 5,
Table S11). This phenomenon is consistent with previous reports in the
ocean [77] and soil [99]. Although a relatively high pH (> 9.0) would
inhibit the growth of Nitrospira, many findings have shown that the
optimal pH for Nitrospira is slightly alkaline, such as the 8.0–8.3 range in
membrane bioreactors [100], 7.6–7.8 in nitrifying intermittently
aerated reactors [59], and 7.6–8.0 in pure culture media for isolation of
Nitrospira moscoviensis sp. Ehrich et al., ($year$) [21]. These results
indicate that Nitrospira may tend to grow more readily in medium-aged
leachate (5–10 years old, pH 7.55–7.85) compared to young leachate
Among the evaluated metal elements (Fig. 5, Table S11), Ca2+ was
positively correlated with Dechlorobacter (r = 0.66, p < 0.05) and Pseu-
darcobacter (r = 0.62, p < 0.05), which was attributed to the influence
of calcium on the adhesion behavior of microorganisms and the
enhancement of EPS structural stability [82]. Moreover, Mg2+ was
positively associated with Sulfurospirillum (r = 0.71, p < 0.05) and sol-
uble Fe was moderately correlated with UCG_012 belonged to Syn-
ergistotam (r = 0.64, p < 0.05) and BBMC_4 belonged to Fibrobacterota
(r = 0.62, p < 0.05). Additionally, Na+ exhibited a positive relationship
with 22 genera including halophilic bacteria [57,73], such as Halocella
(r = 0.65, p < 0.05), Ectothiorhodospira (r = 0.61, p < 0.05), and

Fig. 5. Spearman rank correlation between environmental parameters and microbial species richness. The corresponding ‘r’ value ranges from –0.76–0.89
(Table S11); the red squares represent significantly positive correlations (r > 0.6, p < 0.05), whereas the blue squares represent significantly (r < –0.6, p < 0.05)
negative correlations. The genera within each phylum are represented by different colored ellipses and pentagrams.

9
Y. Qian et al.
Pseudomonas (r = 0.72, p < 0.05) in these high salinity leachates [61].
Regarding heavy metals, the only observed relationship was between Cr
and microorganisms. Specifically, Cr showed a positive correlation with
Aequorivita (r = 0.605, p < 0.05) but was negatively correlated with
Babeliales (r = –0.66, p < 0.05), Candidatus_Komeilibacteria
(r = –0.609, p < 0.05), and BSV26 affiliated with Bacteroidota
(r = –0.63, p < 0.05) (Fig. 5, Table S11). The positive correlation in-
dicates that the presence of Cr enhances microbial abundance [54],
implying that Aequorivita may survive under Cr stress. However, infor-
mation on the Cr tolerance of this genus is currently unavailable. In
contrast, Cr contamination in leachate treatment systems may adversely
affect the survival of selective microorganisms, e.g., inhibition of bio-
logical dehydrogenase activity [29].
4. Conclusion and future prospects
This study provides the first detailed analysis of conventional pa-
rameters, heavy metals, ECs, and microbial community traits in leach-
ates collected from 381 landfills worldwide. Landfill leachates
commonly exhibit alarmingly high concentrations of COD and ammo-
2- - Acknowledgements
nium (NH+ 4 ), followed by sulfate (SO4 ), chloride (Cl ), potassium (K ),
+
2+
sodium (Na ), and calcium (Ca ), while the concentrations of heavy
+
metals and metalloids are relatively low. Moreover, ECs in landfill
leachates exhibit high spatial variability, with PFOA, BPA, and DEET
being the most frequently detected compounds in the majority of land-
fills in different countries. Additionally, the dominant microorganisms
in landfill leachates are Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Firmicutes and
Chloroflexi, some of which are affected by the concentrations of
- -
ammonium (NH+ 4 ), nitrate (NO3), chloride (Cl ), sodium (Na ), chro-
+
mium (Cr), and others. Nitrogen removal is mainly carried out by Can-
didatus Brocadia (anammox), Thauera (denitrifier), and Nitrospira
(NOB), along with Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira (AOB). The compre-
hensive global pollutant inventories as well as microbial community
profiles provide an indispensable data basis and information for future
treatment and management strategies of landfill leachates.
Although the present comprehensive study yielded valuable results,
several issues were encountered that require attentions, for which the
following solutions are proposed:
(i) The impact of emerging contaminants (ECs) and heavy metals on
the whole process of denitrification and dephosphorization of
activated sludge in leachate treatment plants needs to be inves-
tigated. Omics techniques and biomarker gene detection can
provide crucial support for microbial responses to ECs, both in
laboratory simulations and field leachate systems.
(ii) Conventional activated sludge processes in leachate treatment
plants are ineffective in degrading most ECs due to their complex
organic molecular structures and recalcitrance. Further research
is thus needed to integrate biological treatment with other
methods (such as physical adsorption, chemical catalysis and
membrane technology) to achieve cost-effective and efficient
removal of both conventional and emerging pollutants.
(iii) Some functional microorganisms in landfill leachate may degrade
PFAS, EDCs and PPCPs to a certain extent. Therefore, the devel-
opment of new approaches to mine the functional microorgan-
isms and their corresponding degradative enzymes is also crucial
and urgent.
(iv) A wide diversity of microorganisms is involved in the nitrogen-
transforming reaction to remove ammonium in landfill
leachate, and the relationships and contributions among them are
still unclear. Promising tools to overcome these knowledge gaps
include the application of DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP)
in combination with omics techniques and the quantification of
nitrogen conversion using isotopic tracers.
10
Journal of Hazardous Materials 461 (2024) 132446
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Youfen Qian: Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing
– original draft. Pengfei Hu: Validation, Investigation, Methodology.
Naama Lang-Yona: Writing – review & editing, Conceptualization,
Supervision. Meiying Xu: Methodology, Writing – review & editing.
Changhong Guo: Methodology, Conceptualization. Ji-Dong Gu:
Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data Availability
Data will be made available on request.
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Devel-
opment Program of China (No. 2021YFA0910300), and National Natu-
ral Science Foundation of China (No. 92051103).
Appendix A. Supporting information
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in the
online version at doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132446.
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