DOMESTIC SOURCE OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSW) IN GUWAHATI CITY, INDIA: QUANTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION

摘要

There is a notable increase in the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Guwahati city during the last decade. This is mainly due to economical growth and rapid urbanization. The management of MSW in Guwahati has become major concern as there is no scientific landfill as well as inadequacy of proper processing technology. The broad objective of this study is to quantify and analyse the waste generated from domestic source so that appropriate processing technology can be suggested. This will be great help to reduce the total volume of waste generated. To understand per capita generation, a sample survey was conducted taking into account for Higher Income Group (HIG), Middle Income Group (MIG), Low Income Group (LIG), and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) households. The household surveys were carried out for weekdays and weekends. From this study, the average per capita waste generation from domestic source in Guwahati city is calculated to be in the ranges from 210 to 254 g/day. This implies total waste generated from domestic source is around 223.03 tons/day. From the load count technique it is estimated that total waste going to landfill, generated from all the sources to be approximately 421 tons/day of which contribution from domestic source is 65%. Physical characterization is carried out by Quartering coning method and from this, the fraction of organic component is found to be more than 60%. Chemical characterization shows high moisture content (more than 50%) and C/N ratio to be in the range of 15- 22. The high organic components, high moisture percentage and C/N ratio indicates that waste is best suitable for biological processing (Composting and biomethanation).