Abstract
The current study aims to analyze and compare the quantity and composition of municipal solid waste (MSW) at three socio-economic levels of population during all four seasons of the year (spring, summer, monsoon and winter). In this study, 2164.75 kg of MSW was evaluated, from 1260 samples collected from 45 households. The average waste generation was estimated to be 0.6 kg per capita per day. Waste generation rate for high, middle and low income groups was 0.890, 0.612 and 0.346 kg per capita per day, respectively. Nevertheless, season specific analysis indicated waste generation rates of 0.78, 0.58, 0.48 and 0.75 kg per capita per day in spring, summer, monsoon and winter, respectively. A two way ANOVA statistical analysis further illustrated a significant effect (p = 0.00) of economic level and seasons on the amount and composition of waste generated by the community. Moreover, the collected waste was segregated into 42 categories, where the highest was the organic fraction (57%), then diapers (12%), followed by plastic (8%), cardboard (3%) and paper (2%). The amounts of textile, diapers and plastics were highest in the lowest income group, while tetra packs, metal, paper and yard waste were maximum in the high income group. It is concluded that the high income group generated the highest amount of waste and waste generation rate is higher in the seasons of spring and winter compared to the other two seasons.
Highlights
The domain of this study comprises urban Islamabad
In comparison to other developing countries, this waste generation rate is higher, owing to the economic status of the city of Islamabad, which is more similar to developed countries rather than developing countries
The value of p is less than 0.05, showing strong correlation between the two variables, which are income level of population and waste generation rate in this study. This tendency of greater waste generation in high income groups is seen in studies in other developing countries, where economy is booming [4,30,51,52]
Summary
The domain of this study comprises urban Islamabad. Islamabad is the capital and the tenth largest city of Pakistan. The city lies at 33◦38 N and 73◦07 E. It has a population of 356,603 [1] and 18 developed residential sectors, which are planned in parallel belts. Each sector is 3.1 km in area and is a self-contained community unit. It was not developed historically according to site or situation. It is the only well planned city of Pakistan and different from other cities of the country, which are developed historically with downtowns, old city, suburban areas and shantytowns
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