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Solid & Hazardous Waste Management

Kandahar University
Engineering Faculty
Water and Environmental Engineering Department

Chapter 2. Municipal Solid Waste Characteristics and

Quantities

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Agenda

 Definitions
 Municipal Solid Waste Generation
 Municipal Solid Waste Characteristics
 Composition by Identifiable Items

 Moisture Content

 Particle Size

 Chemical Composition

 Heat Value

 Bulk and Material Density

 Mechanical Properties

 Biodegradability
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 Introduction

A great deal of confusion exists in the definitions related to solid

waste, and this leads directly to disagreements on quantities and

composition. There are both gross and subtle differences in the type

and sources of such material, which pose a question as to what is and

is not solid.

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 Definitions

MSW components: • Household hazardous

Mixed household waste Recyclables, such as: waste

 Newspapers • Commercial waste

 Aluminum cans • Yard (or green) waste
 Milk cartons • Litter and waste from
 Plastic soft drink bottles community trash cans
 Steel cans • Bulky items
 Corrugated cardboard
(refrigerators, rugs, etc.)
 Other material collected by the community
• Construction and
demolition waste 4
Continue Definitions

Often these wastes are defined by the way they are collected
• Mixed household wastes are collected by trucks specially built for
that purpose.
• Recyclables are collected either with the mixed waste in a separate
compartment
• Yard waste may be collected with the household waste or placed
separately in a dedicated vehicle
• Commercial wastes use large containers that are emptied into
specially built trucks

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Continue Definitions

.
 Construction and demolition wastes are collected in roll-off stationary
containers that remain on the job site until full.

 Bulky items are commonly collected on an “as needed” basis by larger

trucks capable of handling large items.

 Household hazardous wastes are collected periodically by the

community.

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Continue Definitions
Refuse include
 Solid waste generated by households •
 Recyclables
 Household hazardous
 Yard (or green) waste
 Litter and community trash
 Commercial waste
Refuse does not include
Construction and demolition debris
• Water and wastewater treatment
plant sludge's
• Leaves and other green waste
collected from community streets
and parks
• Bulky items such as large
appliances, hulks of old cars, tree
limbs,
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 Continue Definitions

(MSW) = (refuse) + (C & D waste) + (leaves) + (bulky items)

(as-generated refuse) = (as-collected refuse) + (diverted refuse)

The objective is to increase the life of a landfill or to reduce the cost of

disposal.
EPA has challenged communities to increase their diversion to 35% up
from the 25% originally suggested in 1988. California has set an even
higher goal of 50% diversion.

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Example 2 -1

A community produces the following waste on an annual basis:

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Continue E x a m p l e 2 –1
The recyclables are collected separately and processed at a materials
recovery facility. The mixed household waste and the commercial waste
go to the landfill. The leaves are composted, and the C & D wastes are
processed and used on the next project. Calculate the diversion?

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S o l u t i o n 2.1

If the calculation is on the basis of MSW, the total waste generated is

434 tons per year. If everything not going to the landfill is

counted as having been diverted, the diversion is calculated as:

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Municipal Solid Waste Generation
Table 2-1 shows the amount of MSW generated from 1960 to 2008
and how it has been managed.

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Continue Municipal Solid Waste Generation

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Continue Municipal Solid Waste Generation

The generation of refuse in a community also varies throughout the

year.

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 Municipal Solid Waste Characteristics

As long as the MSW is to be disposed of by landfill, there is little need to

analyses the waste, including problems of :

 Special (hazardous) materials

 Amount of organic material

 Amount of recycling material

if materials or energy recovery by combustion is the objective, it becomes

necessary to have a better picture of the solid waste.

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1. Composition by Identifiable Items
Municipal solid waste composition studies are essential for proper
waste management for a variety of reasons including:
• Need to estimate materials recycling potential
• Identify sources
• To facilitate the design of the processing equipment.
The composition of generated waste is extremely variable as a
consequence of seasonal, geographic, and social impacts.

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Continue Composition by Identifiable Items

The 2008 EPA estimates of national waste composition based on such

data are shown in Table 2-3

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Waste composition in Afghanistan, Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka, China,
Katmandu, Bangkok, Manila, India, Karachi

Waste composition Categories in developing countries (average percentage of wet weight)

Textile
Food & Mix Mix Rubber Yard
City & Wood ferrous Glass Other
Organic Plastic Paper wastes
leather

Afghanistan
34.5 10 7 2.5 N/A N/A N/A 4 6 36
(Kandahar)
Malaysia
(Kuala 41.1 9.13 7.78 3.48 1.24 2.69 3.09 0.17 1.62 0.25
Lumpur)

Indonesia 69 8 10 2 2 3 1.3 2 2 0.7

Dhaka 70 4.7 4.3 4.6 N/A N/A N/A 0.1 0.3 16
China 49 16 16 2 2 N/A N/A 2 2 10
Katmandu 64.24 15.96 8.66 3.4 1.12 N/A N/A 1.72 3.75 1.15
Bangkok 53 19 9 7 N/A N/A N/A 1 3 8
Manila 49 17 19 N/A N/A N/A N/A 6 9
India 42 4 6 4 2 0.5 N/A 2 2 37.5
Karachi 39 7 10 7 N/A N/A N/A 1 2 32
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Measuring Composition by Manual Sampling

Sampling studies for characterizing refuse must be designed so as to

produce the most useful and accurate data for the least cost and effort.
The two variables of importance in designing such a study are sample size
and the method of characterizing the refuse. Although manual sampling is
still the only truly reliable way of estimating composition.

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20
 Moisture Content
A transfer of moisture takes place in the garbage can. And truck, and
thus, the moisture content of various components changes with time.
The moisture content be comes important when the refuse is
processed in to fuel or when it is fired directly.

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22
Example 2 –2

A residential waste has the following components:

Paper 50%
Glass 20%
Food 20%
Yard waste 10%
Estimate its moisture concentration using the typical values in Table 2-5
Solution

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 Particle Size
Any mixture of particles of various sizes is difficult to describe
analytically. If these particles are irregularly shaped, the problem is
compounded. Municipal refuse is possibly the worst imaginable
material for particle size analysis, and yet much of the MSW
processing technology depends on an accurate description of
particle size.

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 Chemical Composition

The economic recovery of materials and/or energy often depends on

the chemical composition of the refuse.
Two common means of defining the chemical composition of refuse

are the proximate analysis and the ultimate analysis. Both

descriptions were originally developed for solid fuels, especially
coal.
The proximate analysis define the fraction of volatile organics and
fixed carbon in the fuel, …

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 Continue Chemical Composition
• while the ultimate analysis is based on elemental compositions.

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 Heat Value
The heat values of refuse are of some importance in resource recovery.
Some published values for several fuels are shown in Table 2-7 to
illustrate the variability of the fuels according to how they are derived.
In common American engineering language, heat value is expressed as
Btu/lb of refuse, while the proper SI designation is kJ/kg. Commonly,
the heat values of refuse and other heterogeneous materials are
measured with a calorimeter.

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 Continue Heat Value
• Refuse can be characterized as being made up of organic
materials, inorganic materials, and water. Usually, the heat value
is expressed in terms of all three components (the Btu/lb).

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29
Example .3

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Bulk and Material Density

Municipal solid waste has a highly variable bulk density, depending

on the pressure applied.
Loose, as it might be placed in to a garbage can by the home owner,

the bulk density of MSW might be between 150 and 250 lb/yd3

(90 and 150kg/m3); pushed in to the can, it might be at 300lb /

yd3 (180 kg/m3).

3132
Continue Bulk and Material Density

In a collection truck that compacts the refuse, the bulk density is

normally between 600 and 700 lb/yd3 (350 and 420 kg/m3).
Once deposited in a landfill and compacted with machinery, it can

achieve bulk densities of about 1200 lb/yd3 (700 kg/m3).

As 1700 lb/yd3 (1000 kg/m3) for a landfill where thin layers of

refuse are compacted. Such landfills are quite dense.

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Mechanical Properties
36The compressive strength of some typical MSW constituents is
shown in Figure 2-13. A wide variation exists in the amount of energy
necessary to obtain volume reduction.

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Biodegradability
• From Table 2-3 the fraction of municipal solid waste that is
organic can be listed as in Table 2-11. Using calculated and
estimated percentages of degradation.
• Table 2-11 shows that only about 45% of MSW is potentially
biodegradable.

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Continue Biodegradability

Treatment techniques (such as composting) must take in to account

that a large fraction of MSW is not biodegradable and that this
material must be disposed of by means other than producing useful
products using biodegradation.

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Continue Biodegradability

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 Final Thoughts
 Continued implementation of reduction, reuse, recycling, and
resource recovery systems will reduce both the extraction of raw
material and the quantities of waste disposed into our
environment.

 Steps
 Gather existing data
 Identify waste generation sources & characteristics
 Develop waste categories
 Develop sampling methodology
 Conduct field studies
 Conduct market surveys for special wastes
 Measure factors affecting waste generation rates 38
Thanks from your attention
&
Question

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