Abstract
The purpose of this case study was to conduct a case study in the generation rate, composition, and characterise solid wastes from low, middle and high income households during weekdays and weekends in Palapye, Botswana. The study was conducted through sampling and analysis of the wastes from sampled households from each of the three categories. Palapye village does not have an engineered solid waste management system in place; hence the study can be used as a starting point. The village is rapidly urbanising with many shopping complexes coming up which will generate high amounts of solid wastes of different compositions. The lowest generation rate was 0.038 kg/capita/day from low income households during weekends and the highest was 0.364 kg/capita/day generated from high income households during weekends. The composition of the wastes was dominated by food wastes ranging from 46.44% to 80.78% with low income households generating the highest percentage during weekdays. The average moisture contents of samples from low, middle and high income households were 71% ± 0.0%, 66.3% ± 1.25% and 74.3% ± 2.2% respectively during weekdays compared to 77% ± 0.0%, 66.5% ± 3.5% and 69.3% ± 3.3% during weekends. The average moisture contents from low, middle and high income households were 71% ± 0.0%, 66.3% ± 1.25% and 74.3% ± 2.2% respectively during weekdays compared to 77% ± 0.0%, 66.5% ± 3.5% and 69.3% ± 3.3% during weekends. The results can be used as part of the waste management planning purpose by the Administrative Council of the area.
Highlights
Knowledge of waste generation rate, types of wastes generated, generation rate per income level and types of wastes generated per income level as well as generation rates during weekdays and weekends can help in planning for solid waste management system
The same trend was observed in the case of high income households where generation rate from weekdays increased by 250% during weekends
Bolaane and Ali [13] reported average generation rates of 0.35, 0.35 and 0.27 kg/cap/day for low, medium and high income categories in Gaborone, Botswana which was less than 0.364 ± 0.14 kg/cap/d observed under high income households in this study
Summary
Knowledge of waste generation rate, types of wastes generated, generation rate per income level and types of wastes generated per income level as well as generation rates during weekdays and weekends can help in planning for solid waste management system Both physical and chemical composition of the wastes can help in determining the energy value of the wastes the possibility of the wastes as energy sources. It has been reported that most of the municipal solid wastes are generated from households (55% to 80%) and 10% to 30% from commercial areas [3]. These wastes are heterogeneous in nature and vary in physical characteristics depending on their sources. The heterogeneity is a disadvantage as wastes have to be separated for recycling to be achieved [3]
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