Does the addition of soil amendments have a positive influence on landfill soils?

Waste disposal in landfills is one of most frequently used methods of municipal solid waste (MSW) management. Landfills disturb to a certain extent the landscape character and disposal of waste in landfils represents one of human activities that may impair natural ecosystems. Due to waste decomposition, numerous chemical, physical and biological reactions and changes occur within the landfill body that give rise to dangerous and harmful substances. One of the problems very often occurring in the landfill surrounding is soil contamination. This study is focused on the assessment of soils contamination due to the operation of sanitary MSW landfill. The aim was to determine the effect of diatomite and compost on soil phytotoxicity. Toxicity was assessed in a pot experiment with soil amendments. Soil samples (sample 1–4) for the experiment were taken from the landfill site (sample 1–3) and its surrounding (sample 4). The aim of this study was to check relation between soil amendments added to the soil sample and the amount of biomass produced by some plant species (Sinapis alba L., Hordeum vulgare L.). In this study soil amendments improved soil characteristics. The paper shows that a higher percentage of biomass weight increase was recorded in samples 1, 2, 3 and 4 with the addition of compost. As compared with the addition of diatomite, biomass weight in the samples with the added compost increased on average by 67.25%. Therefore, it can be stated that the addition of diatomite did not advance the plant growth as much as the addition of compost. The potential of using soil amendments in practice is promising.