Solid household waste characterization and fresh leachate treatment: Case of Kasba Tadla city, Morocco

Abstract

This study aims to characterize solid household waste and to present physicochemical characteristics of fresh leachate before landfilling in Kasba Tadla city, Morocco. Obtained results show that household waste produced in 2013 were about 11,787 tons, or 0.27 tons/capita/year. These wastes were composed essentially of organic materials (74%), paper (8%), plastics (9%), metals (1%), and glass (0.5%). However, monthly produced leachate ranges from a maximum of 130.92 m 3 during summer and a minimum of 21.88 m 3 in winter. Moreover, leachate treatment using Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket technique was accompanied by a decrease in electrical conductivity, certainly related to leachate-sediment chemical exchanges. Otherwise, the same acidity reduction phenomenon occurs when pH value increased from 4.49 to 6.17 after 24 hours, confirming the system response since the early stages of treatment. In addition, temporal evolution of the treatment efficiency in terms of COD highlighted a very important reduction which reached 94% after 5 days with an average temperature of 25˚C.