Seasonal characterization of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the city of Chihuahua, Mexico

Journal Article · Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Waste Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2009.02.006· OSTI ID:21269338

Gomez, Guadalupe ^[1]; Meneses, Montserrat ^[1]; Ballinas, Lourdes ^[2]; Castells, Francesc ^[1]

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1. Departament d'Enginyeria Quimica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43007 Tarragona (Spain)
2. Facultad de Ciencias Quimicas, Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua, 31310 (Mexico)

Management of municipal solid waste (MSW) has become a significant environmental problem, especially in fast-growing cities. The amount of waste generated increases each year and this makes it difficult to create solutions which due to the increase in waste generation year after year and having to identify a solution that will have minimum impact on the environment. To determine the most sustainable waste management strategy for Chihuahua, it is first necessary to identify the nature and composition of the city's urban waste. The MSW composition varied considerably depending on many factors, the time of year is one of them. Therefore, as part of our attempt to implement an integral waste management system in the city of Chihuahua, we conducted a study of the characteristics of MSW composition for the different seasons. This paper analyzes and compares the findings of the study of the characterization and the generation of solid waste from households at three different socio-economic levels in the city over three periods (April and August, 2006 and January, 2007). The average weight of waste generated in Chihuahua, taking into account all three seasons, was 0.592 kg capita{sup -1} day{sup -1}. Our results show that the lowest income groups generated the least amount of waste. We also found that less waste was generated during the winter season. The breakdown for the composition of the waste shows that organic waste accounts for the largest proportion (45%), followed by paper (17%) and others (16%)

• OSTI ID: 21269338
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Vol. 29, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2009.02.006; PII: S0956-053X(09)00039-7; Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0956-053X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ENVIRONMENT
MEXICO
ORGANIC WASTES
SOLID WASTES
URBAN AREAS
WASTE MANAGEMENT