University of Cebu

Group Members: De los Reyes, Chrisneil

Engbino, Mae Claire
Villarin, Jocyn

Subject: Elective 3

Modular Activity No.1

I. Title: Municipal Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste

II. Objective(s): To identify the sources, quantities generated, and physiochemical properties of
municipal solid waste and hazardous waste

III. Reference:

 Environment Management Bureau (Solid Waste Survey)

 Main Problems and Issues of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing
Countries with Emphasis on Problems by Chris Zurbrügg & Roland Schertenleib
 CE Solid Waste by Widnr
 Solid and Hazardous Waste by John Papiewski

IV. Discussion

D1. What is Solid and Hazardous Waste?

 Solid Waste Definition

RCRA has a precise and technical definition for solid waste, and it covers a lot
of territory. The law states that it is any garbage, refuse or abandoned material.
Interestingly, it is considered “solid” even though it may be a liquid or gas, so water
that contains dissolved waste would also count. Solid waste can come from
industrial, commercial, mining, or agricultural operations, and from household and
community activities. Solid waste does not include wastes such as solid or dissolved
materials in domestic sewage, or source, special nuclear, or by-product material as
defined by federal law.
 University of Cebu

 Hazardous Waste

A fair amount of overlap exists between solid and hazardous waste. The RCRA
law defines hazardous waste as solid waste that can cause harmful effects to
human life or the environment.

Much waste is hazardous because it's poisonous, easily ignited or chemically

reactive. A hazardous waste might contain cancer-causing chemicals, acids or
solvents, for example. Other hazardous waste might not necessarily be harmful to
humans directly but may be dangerous to wildlife. The universe of hazardous wastes
is large and diverse. Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids, or contained gases.
They can be the by-products of manufacturing processes, discarded used materials,
or discarded unused commercial products, such as cleaning fluids (solvents) or
pesticides.

D2. Sources

Every day, tons of solid waste is disposed of at various landfill sites. This waste
comes from homes, offices, industries and various other agricultural related activities.
These landfill sites produce foul smell if waste is not stored and treated properly. It
can pollute the surrounding air and can seriously affect the health of humans, wildlife
and our environment. The following are major sources of solid waste:

 Residential

Residences and homes where people live are some of the major sources of solid
waste. Garbage from these places include food wastes, plastics, paper, glass, leather,
cardboard, metals, yard wastes, ashes and special wastes like bulky household items
like electronics, tires, batteries, old mattresses and used oil. Most homes have
garbage bins where they can throw away their solid wastes in and later the bin is
emptied by a garbage collecting firm or person for treatment.
 University of Cebu

 Industrial

Industries are known to be one of the biggest contributors of solid waste. They
include light and heavy manufacturing industries, construction sites, fabrication plants,
canning plants, power and chemical plants. These industries produce solid waste in
form of housekeeping wastes, food wastes, packaging wastes, ashes, construction
and demolition materials, special wastes, medical wastes as well as other hazardous
wastes.

 Commercial

Commercial facilities and buildings are yet another source of solid waste today.
Commercial buildings and facilities in this case refer to hotels, markets, restaurants,
go downs, stores and office buildings. Some of the solid wastes generated from these
places include plastics, food wastes, metals, paper, glass, wood, cardboard materials,
special wastes and other hazardous wastes.

 Institutional

The institutional centers like schools, colleges, prisons, military barracks and
other government centers also produce solid waste. Some of the common solid
wastes obtained from these places include glass, rubber waste, plastics, food wastes,
wood, paper, metals, cardboard materials, electronics as well as various hazardous
wastes.

 Construction and Demolition Areas

Construction sites and demolition sites also contribute to the solid waste
problem. Construction sites include new construction sites for buildings and roads,
road repair sites, building renovation sites and building demolition sites. Some of the
 University of Cebu

solid wastes produced in these places include steel materials, concrete, wood,
plastics, rubber, copper wires, dirt and glass.

 Municipal services

The urban centers also contribute immensely to the solid waste crisis in most
countries today. Some of the solid waste brought about by the municipal services
include, street cleaning, wastes from parks and beaches, wastewater treatment plants,
landscaping wastes and wastes from recreational areas including sludge.

 Treatment Plants and Sites

Heavy and light manufacturing plants also produce solid waste. They include
refineries, power plants, processing plants, mineral extraction plants and chemicals
plants. Among the wastes produced by these plants include, industrial process
wastes, unwanted specification products, plastics, metal parts just to mention but a
few.

 Agriculture

Crop farms, orchards, dairies, vineyards and feedlots are also sources of solid
wastes. Among the wastes they produce include agricultural wastes, spoiled food,
pesticide containers and other hazardous materials.

 Biomedical

This refers to hospitals and biomedical equipment and chemical manufacturing

firms. In hospitals there are different types of solid wastes produced. Some of these
solid wastes include syringes, bandages, used gloves, drugs, paper, plastics, food
 University of Cebu

wastes and chemicals. All these require proper disposal or else they will cause a
huge problem to the environment and the people in these facilities.

Hazardous wastes can be solids, gases, liquids, or semi-liquids like mining sludge and

drilling mud. Most of the wastes listed by the EPA are liquids or semi-liquids.
Thousands of waste materials are considered hazardous. These include familiar items
like used motor oil and mercury, agricultural pesticides, and industrial materials such
as asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

D3. Quantities Generated (Look for reliable statistical survey)

MSW comes from residential, commercial, institutional and industrial sources.

Residential waste constitutes the bulk (56.7%) of MSW and includes kitchen scraps,
yard waste, paper and cardboards, glass bottles, plastic containers and sando bags,
foils, soiled tissues and diapers, and special wastes such as containers of household
cleaning agents, batteries and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
Commercial sources which include commercial establishments and public or private
markets contribute 27.1% of which, in some regions, about two- thirds of commercial
wastes come from the latter. Institutional sources such as government offices,
educational and medical institutions account for about 12.1% while the remaining
4.1% are waste coming from the industrial or manufacturing sector.
 University of Cebu

Figure 3-1. Sources of municipal solid waste in the Philippines, 2008-2013.

Figure 3-2. Composition of municipal solid waste in the Philippines,

2008-2013.

Biodegradable wastes comprise about half (52.31%) of MSW although primary

data suggest that figures can range from 30% to as much as 78%. Typical bio-waste
consists of kitchen or food waste and yard or garden waste. From the available
information, it could be estimated that 86.2% of compostable waste comes from food
scraps while 13.8% are leaves and twigs.
Recyclable wastes account for almost a third (27.78%) of MSW with an estimated
range of 4.1% to 53.3%. Plastic packaging materials comprise around 38% of this
waste fraction and followed by paper and cardboard waste, which contributes about
 University of Cebu

31%. The remaining 31% is made up of metals, glass, textile, leather and rubber.
Special wastes which consist of household healthcare waste, waste electrical and
electronic equipment (WEEE), bulky waste and other hazardous materials contribute a
measly 1.93% with values ranging from negligible up to 9.2%. Finally, residuals have
been found to make up 17.98% of generated MSW. Most LGUs present this data as a
combination of disposable wastes as well as inert materials, which comprise about
12% of the residual waste.
Waste generation rates
Waste generation rates have been estimated based on consolidated data
generated from waste analysis and characterization studies (WACS) presented in
EMB regional reports and selected local 10-year Solid Waste Management (SWM)
plans. Using 2010 as base year, Table 3-1 summarizes waste generation rates in the
Philippines, Metro Manila, highly urbanized cities (HUCs), municipalities and other
cities.

Scope / Coverage Sample size (as % of Range Weighted

demographics) Average
kg/capita/day
Metro Manila (NCR) 100% 0.55 – 0.79 0.69
Metro Manila and N/A 0.53 – 0.79 0.69
some highly
urbanized cities
(HUCs)
Other cities and N/A 0.29 – 0.64 0.50
provincial capitals
(excluding
NCR/HUCs)
PHILIPPINES 79% 0.10 – 0.79 0.40
(Nationwide)
All LGUs in the 76% 0.10 – 0.71 0.34
country, excluding
Metro Manila
Municipalities N/A 0.10 – 0.64 0.31
(cities and
 University of Cebu

In 2010, waste generation rates vary from as low as 0.10 kg/capita/day in the municipalities
outside of Metro Manila to 0.79 kg/capita/day in Metro Manila and HUCs. The rates are
dependent on household income, local economic activity and waste avoidance policies and
incentives. The average per capita generation rate for the Philippines is 0.40 kg.

D4. Physiochemical properties

Physical Characteristics

 Moisture content:
o Moisture content is a critical determinant in the economic feasibility of waste
treatment by incineration since energy must be supplied for evaporation of water
and in raising the temperature of the water vapour.
o Moisture content also plays an important role in other processing methods such
as composting and anaerobic digestion.
 Particle size:
o The measurement of the size distribution of particles in the waste stream is
important because of its significance in the design of mechanical separators and
shredders.
o The results of the analysis are expressed in the manner used for the particle
analysis of soils namely a plot of particles size against % less than a given value.
 Density:
 University of Cebu

o Knowledge of the density of waste i.e. mass per unit volume is essential for the
design of all elements of the solid waste management system.
o For example, in high income countries, considerable benefit is derived through
the use of compaction vehicles on collection routes, because the waste is
typically of low density.
o However, in India and other developing countries such as Thailand, Indonesia
etc. due to higher initial density the compaction ratio obtained rarely exceeds 1.5.
 Field capacity:
o Field capacity of solid waste is total amount of moisture that can be retained in
waste sample subject to downward pull of gravity.
o Field capacity of critically important in determining the formation of leachate in
landfills.
o Water excess of field capacity can be released as leachate and field capacity
varies with degree of applied pressure and state of decomposed moisture of
waste.
 Permeability: The Hydraulic conductivity of compacted waste is an important physical
property to a large extent governs movement of liquid and gases in landfill.

Chemical Characteristics

 pH: A 5 gm portion of the powdered sample is mixed with 50 ml of distilled water by

stirring and pH is then measured by a pH meter. The pH of fresh solid waste is normally
around 7. During decomposition it tends to become acidic and stabilized solid waste has
an alkaline pH.
 Organic content: A 10 gm portion of the dried ground sample is placed in a silica dish
and slowly heated in an electric furnace to 700 degree Celsius for 30 min. The residue
is weighed and the loss of weight represents the organic content and is expressed as
percent by weight. The knowledge of organic content helps assess the feasibility of
biological processing-composting and anaerobic digestion.
 Carbon content: The carbon is determined by using the New Zealand formula in which
the percent organic matter is divided by 1.724.
 University of Cebu

 Nitrogen content: Total nitrogen is obtained by Kjeldahl method and the phosphorous
and potassium are estimated by using phosphomolybdic and flame photometric method.
Nitrogen, phosphorous and potash values are important in composting.
 Toxicity: Toxicity characteristics include heavy metals, pesticides, insecticides etc.
Heavy metals are present in municipal solid waste due to the waste from small scale
industries. As some of the heavy metals leach out, testing for heavy metals is often
carried out. Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test is invariably
carried out if the waste is suspected to be toxic in nature.
 Ultimate analysis
 Proximate analysis.

V. Diagram:

VI. Sample Problem: (if there’s any)

 Municipal solid waste collection schemes of cities in the developing world generally
serve only a limited part of the urban population. The people remaining without a
waste collection service are usually the low-income population living in peri-urban
 University of Cebu

areas. One of the main reasons, is the lack of financial resources to cope with the
increasing amount of generated waste produced by the rapid growing cities.
 Pathogenic waste, generated by hospitals and clinics can be regarded the most
important waste product from the category of non-industrial hazardous waste.
 Most of the municipal solid waste (MSW) in developing countries is dumped on land in
a more or less uncontrolled manner. Such inadequate waste disposal creates serious
environmental problems that may impair health of humans and animals and cause
economic and other welfare losses.

VIII. Conclusion

In order to be able to improve and properly manage the solid waste services, it is
important that the municipalities know the actual costs of the different components of the SWM
system including waste disposal. Knowing the complete costs of SWM services enables the
authorities to make decisions, identify opportunities and plan for the future ("What is measured
can be managed"). The current situation is still far from satisfactory. To increase coverage and
efficiency of solid waste services, community-based and private sector involvement can be a
solution. However there are certain preconditions for a successful operation of such models
which must be taken into consideration. Final waste disposal has till now received little interest
by municipalities as well as the public (out of sight-out of mind) and uncontrolled dumping is
still the most common way of waste disposal in cities of the developing world. However
contamination of water resources and air pollution of such disposal sites and increased health
risks of people living nearby are of growing concern. A few important goals should be targeted
in future to improve the current waste disposal activities: Stop uncontrolled waste dumping by
considering upgrading of existing dumpsites as a first step. Develop appropriate landfill
standards to allow for a step-to-step approach towards long term standards. Develop landfill
guidelines to suggest appropriate low-cost solutions for upgrading, designing and operating a
landfill. Pay attention to siting of new landfills using a systematic and transparent process.
Develop sustainable markets for products recovered or produced from Municipal Solid Waste
so to encourage small-scale organic waste recycling and the existing informal recycling system
University of Cebu