Estimation of Appropriate Management Scenarios for Solid Waste Generated in Small Cities: A Case Study

Nowadays, municipal solid waste is known as an environmental pollutant which requires appropriate management. Determination of quality and quantity of the generated waste in each city and region is one of the basic requirements for the design and implementation of a proper management action. The aims of present study were to estimate appropriate management scenarios in small cities, to determine solid waste management status and quality and quantity of generated wastes.
This research was a cross-sectional study. To determine the current status of the municipal solid waste management, field survey was performed from generation steps, storage, collection, transportation, and disposal of solid wastes and the necessary information was collected and documented. Also, solid waste status from quality and quantity point of view, average daily production, per capita generation, specific weight, moisture content, chemical and physical component and energy content were determined. This study was conducted for one year (2012-2013) in Khosrowshah, East Azarbaijan.
Quantitative results showed that on average 11.60 tons of waste was generated daily and the average of waste generation rate was 0.688 kg capita-1 day-1. Physical analysis demonstrated the highest fraction to be food waste with 55.41 percent followed by plastic with 13.94 percent. Also the results showed that more than 32% of generated waste was recyclable.
Since a significant part of the generated waste are recyclable, implementing proper management action will reduce landfill required for disposal of wastes in Khosrowshah. Moreover, a considerable portion of the waste is compostable which may reduce more than 50 percent in the wastes arrived for landfilling. However, the composition of the waste was not suitable for burning and energy recovery.