Third International Symposium on Energy from Biomass and Waste

Venice, Italy; 8-11 November 2010

2010 by CISA, Environmental Sanitary Engineering Centre, Italy

SEASONAL ASPECTS OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE GENERATION AND COMPOSITION IN EAST-EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WITH RESPECT TO WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT 

1. Department of Environmental Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology, Radvil
nu av. 19, 50254 Kaunas, Lithuania.

2. Paul Scherrer Institute, General Energy Research Department, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland. 

3. Centre of Ecological Monitoring of Ukraine at Kyiv National T.S. University, 03127 Kyiv, Ukraine.

4. Department of Environmental Engineering, Ukrainian State Technical University, “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” Kyiv, Ukraine.

5.  Geographic Department, National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine.

6.  Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Ecology, Saint-Petersburg State
Polytechnic University,  Polytehnicheskaya 29, 195251 Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

7. Department of Chemical Technology, A. Tsereteli State University, Tamar Mephe St. 59, Kutaisi, Georgia.

8. Energy Division Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University Thessaloniki, Box 483, University Campus 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. 

9. Department of Water Management, Estonian University of Life Sciences,
Kreuzwaldi 5, 51014 Tartu, Estonia. 

10. Department of Energy and Environmental Technology, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, 53851 Lappeenranta, Finland.  

11. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne, School of Architecture, Civil
and Environmental Engineering, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.  

SUMMARY: The composition of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a result of regional and cultural aspects as well as social behavior, and it is strongly influenced by economic factors. In Eastern Europe there is currently a lack of well developed separate collection systems for recyclable materials. It is urgent to obtain more information about the waste composition in order to establish adequate collection systems. 

Random sorting actions do not provide sufficient information because of strong seasonal fluctuations in MSW composition. The seasonal changes in composition may strongly influence the quality of the recyclable and residual wastes, which in turn affects emissions from landfills and/or the quality of incineration residues. Today, little is known about the waste composition and flows in Eastern Europe. Despite to already existing MSW composition data for all four seasons, the circumstantial analyse of these seasonal changes have been started only now. In a joint effort, research groups from Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia, Switzerland, Finland and Greece recently started to improve the current data basis aiming to develop a methodology to investigate, evaluate and predict seasonal MSW composition for EE countries. In this paper we present the ongoing research efforts and give preliminary results. 

1. INTRODUCTION

Historically, "Eastern Europe" is generally understood as area of countries, located between Russia and the Western Europe. Throughout history Eastern Europe (EE) experienced various challenges, including the lapses of statehood. Russia itself is often attributed to this vast region too. The situation in the various East European countries is essentially different. Major differences are related to the choice of the political system, economic and military alliances, internal democratic development, energy policy, and the economic level. Despite these factors and the impact of the last global economic crisis, the countries of EE are mainly characterized by economic growth and reasonably strong economic relations among themselves and with Western Europe. For the EE countries the socio-economic developments are important indicators which are related to the waste management development.. This is particularly the case for the municipal solid waste sector.. These indicators include: 

a) waste generation and composition; 

b) degree for separate collection and recycling; 

c) management and treatment characters for residual and/or mixed waste; 

d) share for land filled waste and/or waste treatment residues; 

e) shares of
biodegradable waste to be land filled and composted/digested;

f) share of waste to energy; 

g) waste management service charges; 

h) environmental indicators for all implemented waste management and treatment methods.

Currently, the main waste management problem in the mentioned EE region (with except of Finland) is the insufficiently developed separate collection systems for recyclable materials. Therefore, it is urgent to obtain more information about the waste composition in order to establish adequate collection systems like those of the high economically developed European countries including Finland and Switzerland.

Random sorting actions do not provide sufficient information because of strong seasonal fluctuations in the MSW composition. The seasonal changes in composition, as indicated by preliminary measurements in Lithuania, may strongly influence the quality of the recyclable and
residual wastes, which in turn affect emissions from landfills and/or the quality of incineration residues. 

Today, little is known about the factors and impacting indicators causing the seasonal changes. Moreover, no methods exist to evaluate the effects of seasonal factors to environmental performance of MSW systems. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a methodology for the assessment of MSW management systems and waste composition with respect to seasonal influences and changes.

To this time, the mentioned investigations are performed by Kaunas University of
Technology (Kaunas, Lithuania), A. Tsereteli State University (Kutaisi, Georgia), Saint-Petersburg State Polytechnic University (Saint-Petersburg, Russia) and united research group of Kyiv National T.S. University, Ukrainian State Technical University “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, and National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv (Kyiv, Ukraine). 

These investigations are coordinated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne with the support of Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland). The project is financially supported by the Swiss National Scientific Foundation. (Project “Seasonality of Municipal Waste Generation and Composition and Corresponding Fluctuations of Various Environmental Indicators for Waste Management and Treatment Facilities” (SWC-ENV-IND). Moreover, the project team has been complemented with a special international consortium for coordination of similar research. This consortium unites both already mentioned East European Universities and also Estonian University of Life Sciences (Tartu, Estonia), Lappeenranta University of Technology (Lappeenranta, Finland) and Aristotle University Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki, Greece). 

The mentioned European countries are marked in a map to emphasize the different geographical locations covered by the consortium.

2. SITUATION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: COMPARISON FOR SELECTED EAST-EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AND SWITZERLAND

2.1 Republic of Lithuania  

Lithuania's climate, which ranges between maritime and continental, is relatively mild. Average temperatures on the coast are -2.5 °C in January and 16 °C in July. Simply speaking, 20 °C is frequent on summer days and 14 °C at night although temperatures can reach 30 or 35 °C. 

Some winters can be very cold. -20 °C occurs almost every winter. The average annual precipitation is 800 millimeters. The growing season lasts 202 days in the western part of the country and 169 days in the eastern part.

Republic of Lithuania is an EU member since 2004, joining together with other 14 new members. Waste management legislation and legal acts in Lithuania is fully compatible with EU laws and legal acts, but their practical implementation is still difficult to be realized.

The largest share of municipal waste in Lithuania is still land filled. After closure of all old and obsolete landfills, 11 new modern regional landfills with leachate treatment and landfill gas collection systems are used for waste disposal. Only about 4.6% of municipal waste are separate collected and recycled, of which 32% are composted green waste. 

The share of separate collected and composted green waste compiles about 32% of total green waste amount. Thus the total municipal waste composition is indistinguishable from mixed municipal waste composition, of which is suitable for composting 41%, for recycling - 35%, total for incineration - 39%, only for incineration - 17%. Despite it that a series of many feasibility studies had been prepared, neither incineration or mechanical biological treatment of municipal waste is currently not yet used in Lithuania. Often the intentions of the construction of waste incineration plants face opposition from inhabitants.

2.2 Georgia.   

The climate of Georgia is extremely diverse. There are two main climatic zones: Western Georgia - Humid subtropical marine climate, East Georgia - moderately moist maritime subtropical climate. Much of western Georgia lies within the northern periphery of the humid subtropical zone with annual precipitation ranging from 1,000–4,000 mm. Annual precipitation in East Georgia is considerably less than that of western Georgia and ranges from 400–1,600 mm. The wettest periods generally occur during Spring and Autumn while Winter and the Summer months tend to be the driest. 

Integration into the European Union is declared on the state level of Georgia. The country has taken all the obligations to perform the requirements of the EU. Waste complex management is one of the basic requirements for candidate countries. The sphere of household waste management demands serious reforms in the country.

The primary method of waste disposal in Georgia is landfilling. Many old landfill sites do not operate in accordance with basic waste management standards. As a result of the lack of machinery, waste is not compacted, covered or insulated. There is no removal of leachate from
wells and water sampling.

Nowhere is taking steps waste sorting, recycling and the use of burning for energy, etc. Some modern approaches and changes in service sphere of waste management are intensively provided
in the big cities. In this respect an important work is being done in Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi. 

2.3 Ukraine.   

Ukraine is the second-largest country in Europe with an area of 603,700 sq km. The Ukrainian capital, city Kyiv of 3 million inhabitants located close to the central part of Europe and almost in the middle of Ukraine. 

The country’s climate is moderately continental, with the exception of the southern Crimea that has a more Mediterranean type of weather – hot dry summers and mild winters. Comparing the annual averages of the Ukraine with those of different places in 

Western and Central Europe, the latter appear relatively much higher. Average temperatures in January range from 0° on Crimea's South Shore to -8° C on the northeast border with Russia and between 18° and 23° C in July. The summers last between May and September, while the winters stretch from October to April. 

The absolute extremes attain very high values. The strongest degrees of heat are +37° to +43°. The mean annual maxima for Kyiv is +32.1°, the absolute minimum comes to - 33.1°.

Neither rainfall nor snow fall is distributed evenly in Ukraine. 90 percent of Ukraine receives between 450 and 700 mm rainfalls a year. Frequent rains are in late October and November, and
snow lay on the ground between 40 and 100 days a year since December. 

Waste related issue is one of the biggest environmental problems of Ukraine. Dumps cover 165 thousand hectares, representing about four percent of the territory that exceed the area of all National parks and natural reserves of Ukraine.

Separate collection of MSW is not introduced and applied in some of Ukrainian cities as a pilot projects. The only waste sorting station was built in Kiev since 2005 with capacity of 200 tons of MSW processing per year. Only 2,5% of total waste amount is burned at two outdated incinerating plants located in Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk. Two additional plants in the cities of Sevastopol and Kharkiv were stopped. 

The main technical problems of MSW treatment is old-fashioned garbage trucks (deterioration in average 72%) and outmoded containers for collecting municipal waste, lack of available sites for building new landfills, violations of technical regulations for solid waste burial.

2.4 Russian Federation

The climate of the Russian Federation formed under the influence of several determining factors. The enormous size of the country and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in the dominance of the humid continental and subarctic climate, which is prevalent in European and Asian Russia except for the tundra and the extreme southeast. 

Throughout much of the territory there are only two distinct seasons — winter and summer; spring and autumn are usually brief periods of change between extremely low temperatures and extremely high.

Russian Federation is largest country of the world, country of managed democracy, successor of the former USSR and CIS countries leader. Close economic relations with EU countries are
currently developed.

The quantity, structure and characteristics of MSW vary in wide range for different cities of Russia that is caused by essential distinctions of social and economic, climatic and geographical
conditions of regions. Volume of MSW formation for cities with the population more than 1 million persons equal to 1,5-2 cubic meters per man year. It is in 2-3 times more than in small cities and settlements. 

The share of MSW which is suitable for composting is about 20-30 %, for separate collection can be used to 70 % of MSW. The system of MSW neutralization in Russia is based on landfilling of waste (about 98 %). 

Burning of waste takes place in Moscow region. The main environmental problem is quality of emissions from incinerate plants. In St.-Petersburg third part of MSW is processed by a method of composting mixed MSW in biodrums. Thus the main problem is poor quality of compost due to high maintenance of heavy metals and ballast fractions (glass and plastic). 

Mixed collection of MSW is applied in Russia mainly. Separate collection takes place only in few cities (usually in the form of pilot projects).

There are the general problems in MSW management for all cities of Russia. It is pollution of the ground and groundwater (especially from not authorized dumps); obsolete technologies of MSW dumping on landfills which haven’t any systems for collection of filtrate and biogas; loss of useful components due to absence of separate collection of municipal waste; deficiency of city territories for new landfills in the conditions of constant growth of MSW volumes.

2.5 Estonia

The climate of Estonia is temperate, with warm summer weather and rather extreme winters. The temperature range between summer highs and winter lows is 30°C and -8°C. Being on the Baltic Sea, the country is subjected to sea breezes and humidity. The northerly situation of the country means that summer days are not only warm, but also long, stretching up to 19 hours of daylight, while by contrast the shortest winter days only last about six hours. 

Precipitation in Estonia is limited to light summer rain showers, and occasional winter snowfalls.

Estonia is a democratic parliamentary republic and is divided into fifteen counties. The capital and largest city is Tallinn. With a population of only 1.34 million, Estonia is one of the least populous members of the European Union.

In 2004–2007, several changes took place in waste management due to Estonia's accession to the European Union. Obligation of organizing waste transport within their administrative territories was imposed on all local governments. This means that each local government shall call a competition for finding a private waste transport company for their administrative territory. Investments have been made in the network of recycling stations allowing residents to recycle waste free of charge.

About 400 kg municipal waste was generated per person. Separate collection and recycling of packaging waste was successfully introduced in 2007, exceeding 11 % of the total. Also, there is a deposit refund system for glass, metal and PET beverage containers.

There are no incineration plants in Estonia; however a mass burn facility has been decided to build by 2012. Mechanical-biological treatment of municipal waste along with production of
refused derived fuel is foreseen by major waste management companies in close future. 

Separate collection of biodegradable waste exists on very few places. Organic waste is mostly treated by windrow composting. All of old dumpsites have been closed in Estonia and just five newly built regional landfills
are in operation. 

The amount of waste to be disposed of in landfills is rapidly decreasing. Whereas in 2000 almost all household waste was disposed of in landfills, that figure has now fallen to two-thirds. The remainder is recycled. 

2.6 Greece

Hellenic climate is divided in three Mediterranean climate subtypes, dry, alpine and continental. Dry Mediterranean occurs in the Aegean Islands, alpine on high mountains and continental in most places of Macedonia and Thrace. The officially recognized value is 48°C in Athens and this is also the record high temperature for Greece and Europe. Average annual temperature in Greece ranges from 10 to 23°C. However, since Greece is generally a mountainous country, real average temperatures vary considerably from region to region.

453 kg of MSW generated per person in 2008. 77% is landfilled, 21% recycled and 2% composted. Considering existing waste infrastructure, 63 landfills are in operation (2009) in which only 3 landfills is performed with biogas collection and flaring and 24 MRFs are located in country.

2.7 Finland

The climate of Finland varies between maritime and continental climate. The average temperature of the year ranges from 5 °C to 0 °C when moving from Southern to Northern Finland. The average temperature in the winter time varies between 0 and -16 °C and in the summer time between 10 and 16 °C. The lowest temperatures are from -35 to -50 °C and the highest from 32 to 35 °C. 

The annual precipitation is usually between 600 and 700 mm. 

In Finland, recycling of MSW is mostly based on source separation. Energy recovery of waste was long time mostly executed by co-combustion in the solid fuel burning CHP-boilers of industry and municipalities. Land filling has been relatively cheap because of the sparse inhabitation but the tightened legislation has decreased the number of landfills significantly and made it expensive. This together with national strategies aiming to decreasing of land filling and increasing of recovery, has increased both recycling and energy recovery of waste.

The recovery rate of MSW in Finland was 49.2 % of the total generated mass of 2.8 million tonnes, in the year 2008. Recycling (including composted and digested materials) covered 31.8 % of the MSW amount. 

Energy recovery means in the combustion of waste in the co-combustion plants of industry and municipalities. 

Incineration of waste only has been presented separately. The total energy recovery of MSW was about 478 000 tonnes and it covered 17.2 % of the total MSW amount.

The aim of the national waste strategy is to increase recycling (including composting and anaerobic digestion) to 50 % and energy recovery (including incineration and co-combustion of waste) to 30 % of MSW generation until the year 2016. The main means to achieve these goals will be building of new waste incineration plants and anaerobic digestion plants.

The composition of common generated MSW and degree of separate collection for all main fractions are presented below in the Table 1. These values are calculated according to sources Survey, 2004 and Abfallmengen, 2009.

2.8 Switzerland

In Switzerland temperatures can rise up to 35ºC in the summer. In the mountains temperatures may be lower relatively to the altitude. In the winter, temperatures rarely drop below minus 5 ºC in the entire country, save the mountaintops. From a climate point of view, Switzerland is located in a transition zone. In the west, there is a strong influence of the Atlantic ocean. Winds bring a lot of moisture into Switzerland and cause rainfall. 

In the east, there is an almost continental climate, with lower temperatures and less precipitation. On the other hand, the alps - which run from east to west - act as a climatic divide. South of the alps, there is an almost Mediterranean climate, with significantly higher temperatures but also a lot of precipitation. Generally speaking, spring is wet and cool, April is well known for fast and often changing weather conditions. Summer is supposed to be warm and dry.

Switzerland is a landlocked country whose territory is geographically divided between the Alps, the Central Plateau and the Jura that yields a total area of 41,285 km2. 

The Swiss population of approximately 7.8 million people concentrates mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world by per capita gross domestic product, with a nominal per capita GDP of $67,384.

720 kg of MSW generated per person in 2008. 32,16% is recycled, 16,77% composted, 51,05% incinerated and only 0,02% landfilled. 63 landfills are in operation (2009), mainly to store inorganic residues from incineration or construction. Therefore, only few, 3 landfills, are collecting biogas for further treatment or use. 24 MRFs are located in country.

The composition of common generated MSW and degree of separate collection for all main fractions are presented below in the Table 1.

Table 1. Average MSW composition and separate collection degree for Finland and Switzerland (Statistics, 2008; Survey, 2004; Abfallmengen, 2009) 

2.9 Common data    

The common data which characterise each selected country are presented in the Table 2. 

Table 2. Comparison of main social, economic and natural indicators related to MSW generation per capita in selected countries or regions (European, 2010) 

3. OVERVIEW OF PERFORMED INVESTIGATIONS 

3.1 Principles of implemented methodology for MSW investigation

3.1.1 Analysis of MSW composition In different countries, MSW analyses methods are slightly different. In order to unify the entire work group MSW investigation unified methodology has been developed: “Methodology for Determination of the Composition of Unprocessed Municipal Solid Waste and Waste Composition Dependence from Regional Social-Economic and Climate Characteristics”. 

This methodology is based on some Standard Test Methods for Determination of the MSW (LST CEN/ISO 14780 „Solid biofuels - Method for sample preparation“; ASTM D 5231 – 92 „Standard Test Method for Determination of the Composition of Unprocessed MSW“; ASTM D 4687 – 95 „Standard Guide for General Planning of Waste Sampling“) and Kaunas University of Technology Municipal Solid Waste research experience.

Unprocessed solid waste is a heterogeneous mixture of materials. The special care has been taken during application of the procedures for sample collection in order to obtain a representative sample. Each party has chosen their city or region for MSW composition research. 

Depending on the local situation, each month in a landfill, waste transfer stations, waste generation place, or anywhere else depending from local situation was hand-sorted and tested in accordance with a common list of waste assayed 400 to 600 kg of MSW. In addition, every month, 500-600 kg of
secondary raw materials (plastic, glass, metal) has been examined. Sorting continues until the maximum particle size of the remaining waste particles was approximately 12,7 mm. 

The minimum amount of analysis per month required to investigate the MSW volume was calculated based on statistical methods and the stability of each site-specific waste composition indicator.

The above described has been used for investigations in Lithuania (Kaunas) and Georgia (Kutaisi) in the framerwork of SWC-ENV-IND project. Currently it is used for the same purposes and in the same framework in Ukraine (Kiev) and Russia (Saint-Petersburg). 

However the further discussed seasonally aspects of MSW composition have been taken from the earlier official sources. Further and new results are expected in the next three years, i.e. during the scheduled period for the project presented in this paper. 

3.1.2 Establishment and simulation of moisture for MSW fractions It is likely that air relative humidity and hygroscopicity of different waste fractions can influence the overall mass of MSW and its fractional composition, which may vary in different seasons.

One-time establishment of waste fractions samples moisture during waste composition analyse may not give objective results, therefore it was decided to perform a seasonal moisture simulation. To this purpose the samples of different waste fractions (with except of bio-waste, which have still a high internal water content) were kept in some closed vessels with different water vapours concentration and he stabilized waste moisture was determined gravimetrically. 

It was found that dependences of waste fractions moisture W on of ambient air relative humidity  could be expressed approximately by next equations: 

a) for paper: W = 0,265 + 1,6406 (1);
b) for plastics: W = 0,0226 + 5,7448 (2);
c) for other burnable: W = 0,3286 + 0,4338 (3);

By use of these equations and regional seasonal air relative humidity data (see Table 3), the seasonal waste fractions humidity have been calculated.

Table 3. Average air relative humidity, % in selected countries or regions 

3.1.3 Simulation of MSW caloricity and energetic potential 

The key factor describing the suitability of waste for incineration is its calorific value. For mixed municipal waste, as a rule, it varies in the range of 7.5 and 11 MJ/kg [Johnke, 2003]. 

The calorific value is calculated according to the composition of waste by fractions and the calorific value of these fractions. The calorific value of fractions in MJ/kg is calculated according to the chemical composition (Cerbe at all, 1994): 

H _U = 0,34·C + 1,016·H + 0,063·N – 0,191·S – 0,098·O – 0,025W (4);

where:
H _U – calorific value of waste, MJ/kg;
C – carbon amount, % according to the mass;
H – hydrogen amount %, according to the mass;
N – nitrogen amount %, according to the mass;
O – oxygen amount %, according to the mass;
W – moisture amount %, according to the mass.

When calculating caloricity of the waste, the chemical composition of its fractions is first recalculated according to the total mass. For instance, the following formula is used to calculate carbon amount:

C = C _ODM ·ODMDM·DM/10000, (5); 

where:
C – carbon amount in the total waste mass, %
C _ODM – carbon amount in the dry part of organic waste, %
ODM _DM – amount of organic dry waste part in dry waste part, %
DM – dry part of waste fraction, %. 

The dry part of waste fraction is determined as follows: 

DM = 100 – W, (6); 

W is calculated according to formulas 1-3. The calorific value of incinerated waste is calculated as follows: 

  Table 4. ODM and its chemical compositions for MSW fractions 

3.2 Preliminary perspectives and results
3.2.1 Verification of reliance between waste generation and GDP 

Before starting to discuss the previously published studies and obtained results for seasonal variation of waste composition, it was found that the generation of waste and GDP are related by exponential dependence, which is close to the linear dependence. This reliance is characterized by slightly lower standard deviation than the linear case. 

3.2.2 Seasonal aspects of MSW generation and composition
Lithuanian situation.  

The situation of “Lithuania” has been investigated at a domestic waste transfer station in Kaunas city, in the period February – November 2009. The composition of the waste flows have been analysed: mixed municipal solid waste from block and individual houses, and separate collected paper & cardboard, plastic & metals and glass.

 The average monthly composition has been calculated according to known flows of every analysed waste.

Georgian situation. The situation of “Georgia” has been investigated in Kutaisi city, 2009, in collaboration with local firms on management of waste. For 10 days in each month sorting of waste according to the mentioned methodology has been implemented. 

Ukrainian situation. The situation of “Ukraine” has been investigated in Kiev city (2008). 

Russian situation. The situation of “Russia” has been investigated in Saint-Petersburg city (Negulyaeva, 2005; Negulyaeva et al, 2005). 

Greece situation. The situation of Greece has been investigated in Crete inland (Gidarakos et al., 2006) . 

Estonian situation. The situation of Estonia has been investigated in Tallinn city (Moora, 2008). 
3.2.2 Seasonal aspects of MSW moisture 

It is evident that MSW moisture is mainly caused by food waste content, therefore further studies need to assess the seasonal moisture variation for this fraction.
3.2.3 Seasonal aspects of waste energetic potential 

The seasonal changes of MSW calorific values have been estimated for a situation similar to Switzerland, i.e. assuming high separation efficiencies as Switzerland has today. It was considered that waste fractions moisture (except for biowaste) depends only on ambient air relative humidity and is not impacted by other factors including precipitation.

4. CONCLUSIONS
Some seasonal aspects of MSW composition and energetic potential for selected East European countries regions have been evaluated according to a situation like Switzerland (Swiss scenario) in which wastes are already today efficiently separated. The investigations have been performed for next cities like Kaunas (Lithuania), Kyiv (Ukraine), Saint-Petersburg (Russia), Kutaisi (Georgia) and Crete inland (Greece).

The comparison of GDP and annual MSW generation shows that economic factors and waste generation seem to be related somehow to each other. The countries selected for this study can cover a large GDP and MSW generation range. The regional aspects (north south) cover very different meteorological situations which may influence factors such as the humidity.
The share of biowaste (kitchen waste with relative low content of garden waste) in MSW for all selected countries is predominating, the high share of paper and cardboard is also characteristic for Kyiv (Ukraine) and Saint-Petersburg (Russia).

Seasonal changes of MSW composition is evident however the fluctuations for shares of various fractions and for each selected countries due to yet not clarified factors are clearly different.
MSW moisture is decreased in the period from winter to spring, furthermore the corresponding increasing is observed. It is characteristic for each selected country, except Greece.

Implementation of Swiss MSW separate collection scenario for all selected countries and/or regions (except for Estonia) allows to achieve ~10 MJ/kg of calorific values for MSW collection residues. Same situation is observed by possible implementation of Finish separate collection scenario (except for Ukraine). So it is evident that universal separate collection scenario not
always could be used for achievement of available MSW calorific values and for development of MSW management systems of East European countries.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Publication of this article would never be possible without great help from Toronto Garbage Bin Rentals and Toronto Disposal Bin Rentals companies as well as Calgary Junk Removal and Calgary Garbage Bins Companies who continuously providing us with interesting and relevant material.

Laura Schmidt.

• Published: 2011-01-19T15:24:19-08:00
• Author: Grant Rowe