To the already very long list of problems caused by global warming, add toxic waste in old landfills exposed by coastal erosion and polluting beaches and seas.
鈥淭here is not lots of toxic waste spilling out at the moment, but there will be in the future,鈥� says at Queen Mary University of London.
The average global sea level has already risen by around 0.3 metres due to global warming and will keep on rising for centuries even if net zero is achieved, probably by many metres. This is speeding up the erosion of coasts, especially where the shore consists of soft materials, as in East Anglia in the UK.
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Team member , also at Queen Mary, discovered a few years ago that the contents of some landfill sites near the coast were spilling out, so got together with Russell and others to investigate.
In Britain alone,聽the team has now identified more than 1000 old landfill sites at risk of eroding, Russell told a recent meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, Austria.
鈥淭here were no regulations, no one knows what鈥檚 in them, how big they are, but we鈥檝e found medical waste, old cadmium batteries, asbestos, just falling out of the frontage onto the beach,鈥� he told 快猫短视频 afterwards. 鈥淢y understanding is around London, you would throw all your rubbish onto a barge, go up to Essex, dig a hole, throw it in, cover it up and then leave it there.鈥�
The problem isn鈥檛 limited to the UK. The team is collaborating with researchers in France on a similar project, and Russell was told this is an issue in Italy after his talk. Nor is this limited to landfill. In New Zealand, for instance, toxic waste from an aluminium smelter .
However, it is unclear just how big the problem is. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an emerging issue,鈥� says Russell.
Where old landfill sites contain only things such as construction debris, they could just be left to erode. This will create an unsightly mess, but wouldn鈥檛 be a major threat to people visiting beaches or to marine ecosystems.
If sites contain large amounts of toxic waste, however, the only solution might be to concrete them over to keep it contained, says Russell.
Government agencies in the UK don鈥檛 seem to want to get to grips with the issue, he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e overworked. They don鈥檛 want a new problem to deal with. Maybe that鈥檚 unfair, but if I was in their position, I would be reluctant to open this can of worms.鈥�
鈥淲e are committed to supporting coastal communities and making sure flood risk management is fit for the challenges we face now and in the future,鈥� says a spokesperson for the UK鈥檚 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
EGU General Assembly 2025
