Planning for sustainable municipal solid waste management
Practical Action
How does SWM work at present? What are its strengths and inefficiencies?
What are the existing resources for SWM including personnel, skills, equipment, land etc?
What are the financial issues (including budget, cost recovery, forecasting)?
What policies, legislation and regulations apply? What level of political ownership/vision
exists?
Who are the actors? What level of investment and interest is there from the private sector?
What are the potential hazards from handling waste?
What are the key constraining factors (e.g. lack of co-operation of generators, lack of
vehicles, no disposal site etc.)?
What are the long-term trends and future needs (e.g. population growth, waste type)?
What are the socio-cultural issues and expectations (e.g. attitudes and level of
cooperation)?
Much of this information may be secured from secondary sources, though it may be necessary to
undertake some primary research. The situation analysis should also involve detailed
consultations with a range of stakeholders, as outlined in Table 1 above. The consultation
process should also be an opportunity to build co-operation and support and ensure solutions are
inclusive and geared towards demand. Such activities must use simple concepts and encourage
genuine participation.
Waste characterisation
The cornerstone of successful planning for a waste management program is reliable baseline
information about the quantity and type of waste being generated. This enables informed decisions
to be made about equipment, vehicles, storage facilities, specialised handling requirements and
personnel. The information can also enable targets to be formulated for reduction and recycling
programs, and provide baseline data for assessing whether goals and targets have been achieved.
Issues to investigate may include:
What waste is produced (constituent elements, density)?
Generation rates (i.e. how much waste is produced (volume and mass))
Where is it produced?
When is it produced (e.g. seasonal variation)?
What are the trends in all of the above (e.g. amount of packaging in waste may be
increasing)?
What are the potential hazards (e.g. sharps, toxic chemicals)?
There are a number of methods for quantifying and characterising waste, but care is required to
ensure accurate and representative data. For example, weighing and examining the waste from a
sample of households could give an estimate of total household waste produced in a city
(multiply by the total number of households), as well as an indication of the types of waste
present in domestic waste. However, the sample needs to be carefully selected in order to
account for the considerable variation found in some cities, for example between wealthy and
poor neighbourhoods. Additionally, it is important to recognize that the characteristics of waste
can change as it progresses towards disposal, processing or recycling. For example, where waste
is placed in a transfer point, recyclable materials may be removed and commercial waste added,
thus significantly changing its composition, volume, density and mass. Waste characterisation
studies may be undertaken at different points in the solid waste management process according
to the intended use of the data. For example, household generation rate data could be useful for
planning primary collection, but not necessarily so for secondary. Finally, waste generation and
composition may vary seasonally.
Table 2 contrasts typical waste characteristics in low- and high-income countries.
Generation per household
Density
Composition:
Organic
Paper
Low-income country
0.5 kg
500 kg per cubic metre
Up to 80%
5%
High-income country
2 kg
100 kg per cubic metre
30%
40%
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