Quantity and quality of municipal solid wastes in spring and autumn seasons in Gorgan (1998)

The solid waste is all of the refuse produced by the human activities. The quality and quantity of the solid waste are variable according to the economic, social and cultural factors. The purpose of this research is to study of the quality and quantity of the Gorgan garbage. This is a cross-sectional study. We used the city halls statistics to calculate the share-out of the garbage (Daily produced garbage divided by the population of the city in that year). This share-out is calculated in spring and fall in 1998. To determine the quality of garbage, the city was divided to three zones: Northern, central and southern zone. Two temporary container were chosen in each zone and 100 kg garbage were taken from each container. The garbage of each container was examined three times during each season. After separating the samples out, the rates are reported according to the percentage of the weight of various materials. The final results shown are the mean of results that came from the study of the chosen containers. The results show that the share-out of garbage for one person in spring is 537 gr and in fall is 644 gr. According to their weight, the percentage of various materials were: Biodegradable materials 85.6%, paper and carton 6.6%, glass 2.6%, plastic 2%, fabrics and cloths 1.5%, wood 0.9% and metals 0.8%. This study reveals that biodegradable materials are the majority of garbage. To establish the compost industry in this province and use the prepared compost in agriculture can decrease the need for chemical fertilizer, and the same time, environmental pollution by both chemical and biodegradable materials would reduce.