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2.2 Topic g: Waste characterization

East Asia/Pacific

The solid wastes in Asian cities are blends of residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, and even tourist activities. Characteristics of MSW vary from city to city and season to season. The solid wastes of rural towns in most of Asia are significantly different from those of large cities, having more organics but few plastics or food wastes (these latter being fed to animals).

In industrialized cities MSW is quantified and characterized by municipal authorities at regular intervals. Engineering consultants and professionals from other government bodies such as scientific institutes and the universities also carry out the characterization of MSW.

While many cities report tables of MSW composition, it is often difficult to use this information, as the place and season for the sampling is not specified. Cities that do gather very useable data include Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Seoul, and Surabaya.

Paper and plastic contents are generally higher in cities like Tokyo and Singapore. In cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the ash/soil content is very high due to the burning of coal for space heating during the cold seasons; the proportion of papers, textiles, and other light materials is very low, due to recovery and recycling.

South and West Asia

In general, the Indian subcontinental countries have high percentages of organic and inert matter in their disposed residues, whereas the northern and central ones have more synthetic and combustible materials, metals, glass, and toxic goods such as batteries.

Most of the reports on MSW note generation rates ranging from less than 0.5 kg/capita/day to 0.8 kg/capita/day for cities in the subcontinent; the central area reports show a higher generation rate of more than 0.75 kg/capita/day.

The sampling and analysis of waste streams is not undertaken on a regular basis in this region. For such studies as have been conducted, the methodology is often outdated. The reports do not record sampling procedures (e.g., from what points in the waste stream the samples were taken); usually, sampling is at one point only and is not repeated at different seasons of the year. Sampling at different points is important when significant amounts of recyclables are picked out of waste streams, or where animals eat organics.

The traditional categories for solid waste analysis (organic, inert, paper, glass, metal, plastics, textile, wood/garden wastes, food wastes/bones, ash/soil) are usually not sufficiently helpful for understanding the appropriate treatment systems or the particular risks posed for workers. For instance, one cannot tell from any of the analyses whether human feces and biomedical wastes are present, or what is the incidence of batteries and other toxic materials. The synergistic effects of indiscriminate mixing in MSW are not understood. The need to develop appropriate analytic categories and testing procedures for these countries is recognized, and this is under consideration by the National Engineering Environmental Research Institute in India. The Central Pollution Control Board there has recently commissioned a national study on solid waste generation and disposal in India.

Seasonal variations can significantly affect the nature of MSW: in the rainy periods waste retains much moisture and is denser. In eastern and southern India and Sri Lanka, the "king coconuts" or green coconuts, which are sold on the streets as a drink, contribute heavy and bulky items to the waste stream. In the same areas, during the summer months, melon rinds alone can increase the amount of waste in the commercial and market areas by 20% or more.

Some inter-urban differences relate to climate and fuel use. The cities where heating is needed in winter, and where coal is the main source of energy, have much greater amounts of ash in those months. The basic infrastructure brings other variations as towns with unpaved or poorly paved streets have large amounts of dust and dirt from street sweeping. There are big differences in amounts of organic wastes among cities according to the number of trees and shrubs in public places and the prevalence of animal keeping (the latter reducing the amount of organics).

Large and bulky waste items such as abandoned motor cars, furniture, and packaging are found in the higher-income economies of the northern and central areas, for example in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, whereas they are not put out for municipal pick-up in the Indian subcontinent. In the oil-rich countries, used cars are often abandoned on desert roads outside of cities.

There are significant variations within urban areas, by social class and settlement type. While it is generally held that higher-income households produce more waste per capita, this is usually not so in cities with much recycling and great extremes in living standards. Some of the factors that produce less disposed waste from high-income homes and more from low-income ones are: the initially large volume of recyclables of higher income households is source-separated and sold, often by the servants; these households are more likely to use electricity or gas for fuel than coal, wood, or animal dung, so there is less likely to be ash waste; poorer families buy fruits and vegetables that are not trimmed, so they may have more leaves and stems in their organic waste (unless these are eaten by animals they keep); and low-income houses may have cottage industries that produce industrial wastes or large quantities of food wastes.

The amount of human feces in the MSW is significant in squatter areas where "wrap and throw" sanitation is practiced or bucket latrines are emptied into waste piles and containers. The latter is very common in Kabul, for instance, where sewerage is minimal.

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