The greatest concentrations of PM10 in London are measured in the vicinities of waste management sites. Monitoring PM10 from waste sites has been included in local air quality management (DEFRA, 2009), and this requires detailed assessment of PM10 from a waste site if there is relevant exposure, a history of nuisance complaints or visible dust around the site. Such concerns were raised with respect to several blocks of flats on Mercury Way, in the London Borough of Lewisham, which are in close proximity to a group of waste businesses.

We present a new study that characterizes the influence of the waste treatment industries on the PM10 concentration measured at the London Borough of Lewisham’s Air Quality Monitoring Site (AQMS) in Mercury Way.

During the 19 month study, between 15th February 2010 and 20th September 2011, the local waste management businesses were found to contribute 27% of the mean PM10 daily concentration measured at the AQMS in Lewisham. Although the concentration measured met the EU Limit Values (less than 35 days a year exceeding 50 µg·m-3 as daily mean and the annual mean did not exceed 40 µg·m-3) the industrial sources increased the number of daily exceedances from 5 to 25 days compared to urban background AQMSs. When wind blew from the industrial sources the mean PM10 concentrations was on average 18.4 µg·m-3 above the urban background concentration.

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Item date 02/05/2012