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Title: Municipal solid waste generation in municipalities: Quantifying impacts of household structure, commercial waste and domestic fuel

Journal Article · · Waste Management
 [1];  [1]
  1. Institute of Waste Management, Department of Water, Atmosphere and Environment, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Muthgasse 107, A-1190 Wien (Austria)

Waste management planning requires reliable data concerning waste generation, influencing factors on waste generation and forecasts of waste quantities based on facts. This paper aims at identifying and quantifying differences between different municipalities' municipal solid waste (MSW) collection quantities based on data from waste management and on socio-economic indicators. A large set of 116 indicators from 542 municipalities in the Province of Styria was investigated. The resulting regression model included municipal tax revenue per capita, household size and the percentage of buildings with solid fuel heating systems. The model explains 74.3% of the MSW variation and the model assumptions are met. Other factors such as tourism, home composting or age distribution of the population did not significantly improve the model. According to the model, 21% of MSW collected in Styria was commercial waste and 18% of the generated MSW was burned in domestic heating systems. While the percentage of commercial waste is consistent with literature data, practically no literature data are available for the quantity of MSW burned, which seems to be overestimated by the model. The resulting regression model was used as basis for a waste prognosis model (Beigl and Lebersorger, in preparation).

OSTI ID:
21578467
Journal Information:
Waste Management, Vol. 31, Issue 9-10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2011.05.016; PII: S0956-053X(11)00258-3; Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; ISSN 0956-053X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English