Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in household composts and earthworms (Eisenia foetida)

Three indoor, household composts and the earthworms living in them were analyzed for their congener-specific content of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides, including DDTs, chlordanes, dieldrin, and penta- and hexachlorobenzene. The concentrations of the chlordanes were 0.01 to 0.2 ng/g dry weight (dw) in compost and 0.03 to 0.06 ng/g wet weight (ww) in the worms. Of all the pesticides, the DDTs and chlorobenzenes were found in the highest concentrations. The levels of PCBs found in the composts were 32 to 440 ng sum PCB/g dw and 23 to 290 ng/g ww in the worms. These observations are in strong agreement with reported data from studies of outdoor composts. The PCB congener pattern was similar to that of commercial technical mixtures (dominated by tetrachlorinated PCBs) in contrast with data reported from outdoor composts.