COMPOSITIONS OF SOLID WASTES GENERATED FROM A SCHOOL CAMPUS

Renato Ortiz Arazo

Abstract: Efficient handling of solid wastes starts in determining its compositions and generation rate. A study was carried out to examine the compositions of solid wastes generated in a school campus from four major sources: (1) classrooms and offices, (2) food services, (3) hallways and outdoors, and (4) residence halls and cottages. Waste stream from each source was segregated according to: paper and paper products, hard plastics, soft plastics, glasses, metals, woods, food leftovers, yard, textile, inorganic, hazardous, and special wastes. Result showed variation of weight percentages of wastes from four sources: cottages and residence hall (37%), hallways and outdoors (30%), classrooms and offices (21%) and food services (12 %).Compositional analyses revealed that 48.34 wt% of the waste stream from the campus are organic / compostable (food, yard, and wood). The 29.72 wt% are recyclables (paper, hard plastics, glass, metal) while the residuals constituted the remaining 21.94 wt% (special, hazardous, textile, soft plastics, inorganic). The highest generation rate is in the residence hall and cottages with 0.56 kg/capitaweek.

Keywords: Waste characterization, solid waste audit, waste generation rate, school waste composition

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2015.0410046