Composition of Leachate

Municpal Solid Waste Management (Mswm)

In 2006, the estimated total volume of MSW generated internationally reached 2.02 billion tons, indicating a 7% annual rise since 2003. Between 2007 and 2011, the rise in universal generation of urban waste was estimated at 37.3%, equivalent to an increase of approximately 8% per year (UNEP, 2009). Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is an important aspect of urban planning and development. MSWM is considered as a public service, providing citizens with a scheme of disposing of their waste in an economically and environmentally friendly method (Beigl et al., 2008). It is one of the main concerns in most cities of the developing countries due to rapid modernization and urbanization that consequently lead to increased rate of MSW production and disposal (Manaf et al., 2009 and Zhang et al., 2010). Additionally, Al-Khatib et al. (2010) stated that rapidly growing population, quick economic growth and improved community living standards have resulted in increased generation rate of MSW, the management of which is a great challenge for concerned authorities. MSWM is a significant feature of environmental hygiene in addition to planning, administration, organization, financial and legal aspects of different activities associated with generation, collection, transportation, and disposal processes (Figure 1). In other words, MSWM in an environmentally friendly way that should adopt principles of aesthetics, economy, conservation and energy (Hui et al., 2006 andPattnaik& Reddy, 2010).

Figure 1.

Sketch for integrated solid waste management: (a) Interactive, and (b) Hierarchical (Source: Nemerow et al., 2009)