Speakers
Description
Heavy metal contamination from scrap collection activities poses growing ecological and health risks, yet localized assessments in Ghana remain limited. This study assessed the ecological and contamination risks of heavy metals (Cr, As, Cd, Hg, Pb) in soils from a scrap collection site at Tutuka, Obuasi. A total of 30 soil samples were collected across three depth intervals (0–10 cm, 10–20 cm, 20–30 cm) from 10 sampling points. Concentrations were analysed using a Vanta XRF Analyzer and evaluated through contamination factor, enrichment factor, potential ecological risk index, geoaccumulation index, and Risk Quotient (RQ). Results revealed extremely high contamination and ecological risks across all samples, with arsenic (As) as the dominant pollutant, recording concentrations exceeding 8,500 mg/kg and contributing over 80% to ecological risk values. Depth-related variations suggested increased cadmium (Cd) influence in deeper soils. Statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics (mean, median, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis), ANOVA, and principal component analysis (PCA), confirmed arsenic as the primary contaminant source, while stacked bar visualizations further emphasized its dominance. Quality control measures addressed high recovery anomalies in the dataset. The findings classify the soils as extremely polluted with very high ecological risk, underscoring the urgent need for validation studies, targeted remediation (soil washing, phytoremediation, chemical stabilization), and extended spatial analysis. The study provides critical evidence to guide policy interventions and public awareness on mitigating the ecological and health threats of scrap-related heavy metal pollution in Ghana.