By Andinet Kebede (PhD)

Mar. 2024
• For SWM, understanding of characteristics of waste stream - a must.
• Solid wastes need to be characterized by
 sources,
 generation rates,
 types of wastes produced, and
 composition
to monitor & control prevailing waste mng’t systems.

• The data help to make financial, regulatory & institutional decisions.

• Good planning goes beyond developing current waste composition;
long-term trends in waste stream characteristics also vital; otherwise,
facilities may be over- or undersized.
• Managing SW - one of essential services which often fails due to
rapid urbanization, with changes in waste quantity & composition.
• Quantity & composition
 function of lifestyle & living standard of a region’s inhabitants.
 vary country to country,  difficult to adopt for WM sys. which
may be success at other places.

• Waste from the rich show higher fraction of non-degradable waste

comparable to the poor.
 high spending of rich countries on packaging material
 absence of rag picking & low number of scrap dealers
• E.g. dev’g countries use newspaper & other fresh paper for packag-i
ng including food item.
 Restaurants & road side merchants packing food items, fruits &
vegetables in newspapers & covers made-up of newspapers.
 Huge no of rag pickers  very low amounts of paper, plastic, glass
& metals in the wastes.
 Rag pickers seen at residential, commercial, industrial & waste
dump areas trying to pick all recyclable fractions of waste.

• Dev’g countries generate high industrial waste due to non-adoption

of waste minimisation tech. & weak environ legislations.
• Typical waste characteristics of the developing nations are
1) high waste densities, (2-3x developed)
2) high MC (2-3x developed),
3) large organic fraction,
4) Large fraction of smaller components.
5) cities with wide & open ground storage characterized by large
amount of dust & dirt.
• Total quantity of waste generated by a town/city directly related to
size of population.

• Amount of solid waste produced often expressed in tons/time &

sometimes Kg/p/d (‘per capita waste generation’) or m3/time period.

• Countrywide av. rates of waste generation

 in most industrialized countries 0.8 - 1.4 kg/p/d.
 In dev’g countries, likely 0.3 - 0.5 kg/p/d.
• SW generation rate becomes smaller as cities become smaller.
• The reason of variation in waste quantizes, differences in:
1) consumption pattern (lower income consume less),
2) recycling/reuse at source of generation thus eliminating entry of
substance into waste stream, and
3) culture (e.g. high income countries use large quantity of paper for
personal hygiene after using toilets).

• Where waste collected , necessary to know how much is produced

to make sure that bins for waste large enough.
• If then transported to disposal site, info on amount produced can
be used to know no trips/wk transport vehicle make.
• Generation rate data allows
 current waste collection & treatment needs to be planned;
 helps to predict amounts that may be seen in the future.
MSW Generation on Per Capita Basis
• For planning purposes, MSW generated/person/day often important.
• Per capita waste quantity starts declining after it reaches max. which
is specific to a country or region.
• This could be due to change in
 technology which would decrease the waste generation or
 the attitude of people or
 the purchase power or drop in the demand of the product.

• SW generation curve plotted over time follows pattern of growth

curve of a species in given ecosystem.
Variation of per capita municipal waste generation
matured economy over time
• MSW devoted mainly to collection, disposal & recovery of
materials & energy from refuse.

• For many reasons, convenient to define refuse as

 SW generated by HHs, including mixed non-sorted waste
 Recyclables (whether or not collected separately)
 HH hazardous wastes if these are not collected separately
 Yard (or green) waste originating with individual households
 Commercial waste, b/s contains many of same items as HH
waste
Refuse doesn’t include
• Construction & demolition (C&D) debris
• Water & wastewater treatment plant sludges
• Leaves & other green waste collected from streets & parks in fall
• Bulky items (trash): large appliances, hulks of old cars, tree limbs &
other

• In summary:
MSW = refuse + (C & D waste) + leaves + bulky items
• Refuse can be: as-generated & as-collected SW.
• Refuse generated includes all wastes produced by HH - whatever is
no longer wanted & is to be gotten rid of.

• Often some of refuse, esp. organic matter & yard waste, composted
on premises.
• Fraction of refuse generated but not collected - diverted refuse.
• As-generated refuse >as-collected refuse & difference is diverted.

• In summary:
as-generated refuse = as-collected refuse + diverted refuse
• Diversion can be defined on the basis of MSW instead of refuse.
 Diverted MSW - fraction of MSW generated but not to landfill.

• Objective: to
 increase life of a landfill or
 reduce cost of disposal.

• Major diversion - collection of recyclables (Al cans, newspapers, etc.)

that can be sold on secondary materials market.
• EPA challenges communities to increase their diversion.
• Communities have mandates to recycling of consumer products.
Example
Table: Generation of Municipal Solid Waste Components
• Composition- Types of waste material consists & their characteristics.

• Factors affecting SW composition - season, habits/culture of

community, educational/economic status & geographical location.

Q. Why do you think composition of waste produced by HHs in

Ethiopia may change at different times of year?

 Different foods available at different times of year  waste amount

from preparing food (veg. trimmings, etc.) & its composition change
 Wastes tend to be wetter during rainy seasons.
 More food waste produced during festive & less during fasting.
Solid waste component Percentage by mass
Food wastes 43.5
Paper 9.4
Plastics 3.3
Textile 1.3
Rubber 0.7
Leather 0.2
Garden waste 11.9
Wood and charcoal 1.7
Glass 1.1
Metals 1.3
Ash and soil 20.2
Others 5.6
Total 100
• If MSW to be disposed of by landfill, little to analyze the waste
further than to
 establish tons of waste generated &
 perhaps consider problems of special (hazardous) materials.

• If intent is to collect gas from landfill & put it to beneficial use, the
amount of organic material important.

• When recycling planned, or if materials (energy) recovery by

combustion objective, necessary to have better picture of the SW.
• Some characteristics of interest:
- Composition by identifiable items (steel cans, office paper, etc.)
- MC
- Heat value
- Density
- Particle size
- Mechanical properties
- Chemical composition (C, H, etc.)
- Biodegradability
• Measuring composition of totally heterogeneous material,
such as mixed municipal refuse, not simple task.

• Some determination of its components necessary if various

fractions to be separated & recovered.

• Composition studies used where accurate data absolutely

required for estimating economics of future SWM alternatives.
 • The sampling plan drives the waste composition study.
• Even if sampling procedure is performed adequately, it means
nothing unless the plan can produce valid results.
1) Representing waste accurately through proper load selection so as
not to bias final analysis.
• Truckload to be analyzed has to represent (as closely as possible) av.
production of refuse in the community.
2) To establish method for producing sample small enough to be
analyzed but big enough to be statistical representative of the MSW.
• No of samples required can be determined by ASTM Standard Test
for Determination of Composition of Unprocessed MSW.
• Important to decide early in sampling program what is to be
measured – i.e., how many categories of waste are to be used.
• The decision depends on what the data are to be used for.
• In a study conducted to estimate possibility of diverting waste from
landfill through prevention & recycling, 43 categories established.
- Paper - Wood
- Plastics - Inerts (concrete, rock , brick, ash, etc.)
- Organics - Yard waste
- Ferrous materials - Hazardous materials (Pb acid batteries, etc.)
- Nonferrous metals (Al cans, & others)
- Electronic components (printers, copy machines, etc.)
- Glass
• Based on intended use of the study (e.g., construction of a material
recovery facility), a more realistic listing of components for sampling
study might be more useful (& certainly less expensive):
 Paper (Newsprint, Corrugated cardboard, Magazines & Other)
 Metal (Al cans, Steel cans, Other ferrous, Other nonferrous)
 Glass (Clear (flint), Green, Brown)
 Plastic (HDPE, PETE, Other plastics)
 Yard wastes (Wood (branches & lumber), Leaves & clippings)
 Food waste
 Other (materials with little recovery potential or of low fraction in
refuse (rubber, ceramics, other glass, bricks, rocks, etc.)
• After sorting, samples taken to lab where weighed, cleaned of
contamination & air dried.
 Durable items (such as glass & plastic containers) washed prior
to air drying
 filled containers can be emptied of their contents.

• Waste composition studies are essential tools for MSWM.

• But, b/s of lack of consistent procedure & underfunding, data
provided are frequently inaccurate & imprecise.
• Too often,
 insufficient no of samples,
 sampling events not representative of seasonal & economic
changes,
 contamination not accounted for &
 study not repeated in response to changes in community.

• Poor study may be worse than no study for design purposes.

• Major physical x-ics measured in waste:
1) density,
2) particle size &
3) moisture content (MC).

• Other x-tics which may be used in making decision about SWM:

1) colour,
2) voids,
3) shape of components,
4) optical property,
5) magnetic properties &
6) electric properties.
• Density - to assess volume of transportation vehicle & size of
disposal facility.

• Optical property - used to segregate opaque materials from

transparent, predominately contain glass & plastic.

• Magnetic separators - designed based on the magnetic x-tics

of the waste.

• MC- essential for direct firing, leachate calculation &

composting.
Example
• Economic recovery of materials &/or energy often depends on
chemical composition of refuse - individual chemicals & heat value.
• Chemical composition of refuse are defined by
(1) Proximate analysis - attempt to define fraction of volatile
organics & fixed C,
(2) Ultimate analysis - based on elemental compositions.

• Data for proximate & ultimate analysis published by EPA tabulated.

• The data - of limited value for design purposes, b/s heterogeneous

nature of refuse & its variability with geography & time.

• Accurate info for a specific refuse - only by sampling & analysis.

Physical, chemical & biological characteristics
vary hugely from place to place
• Important chemical properties:
(1) moisture (changes chemical & physical properties),
(2) volatile matter,
(3) ash,
(4) fixed carbon,
(5) fusing point of ash,
(6) calorific value,
(7) percent of C, H, O, N, S & ash.

• Proximate analysis of waste aims to determine moisture,

volatile matter, ash & fixed carbon.
• Analysis for solid waste for C, H, N & S can be done using
CHNS analyser.

• In the absence of such equipment, chemical formula for solid

waste can be calculated as illustrated in next slides.