Seasonal characterization and quantification of municipal solid waste: Energy content and statistical analysis

Determining the seasonal and annual quantities and compositions of the municipal solid waste and assessing the present management conditions of three urban communities in the northwest of Iran were the core objectives of this study. Our findings revealed that the average daily per capita of municipal waste generation was 0.489–0.841 kg/cap-day. Organic and food waste comprised the largest part (56.46%) of the total generated waste in the studied cities, whereas paper and cardboard, plastics, metals, rubber, textiles, glass, woods, and other waste constituted 5.99, 12.62, 1.05, 0.95, 7.71, 1.63, 1.23, and 12.36%, respectively. More than 21% of the total generated waste was directly recyclable. Bulk density of the waste was determined as 182.53 kg/m3. In addition, the moisture content and the chemical characteristics (food and organic fraction) of the generated waste including the amounts of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, ash, and C/N ratio were 67.44, 50.86, 1.67, 0.41, 34.91, and 30.61%, respectively. Waste composition in different seasons followed a variable pattern. In the present conditions, all the three studied cities were sending their waste to the municipal waste landfill sites that were actually used as a dump for waste. Hence, great concerns were raised from the public health and environmental viewpoints such as ground water, soil, and air pollution at the final disposal sites in the area. Implementation of source reduction, separation and recycling program, closing dump sites, and investing for new landfill sites according to the scientific and environmental approaches, were proposed.