Current state and forecasts of organic waste in selected Polish municipalities.
Marta Sebastian, Ryszard Szpadt, Iwona Maćków, Agnieszka Rajmund
Organic waste according to European Environment Agency (EEA) means „waste containing
carbon compounds”. Such defined waste is the predominant part of municipal waste.
It concerns polymers as plastics (in packaging, WEEE, and textiles fractions), cellulose (in
paper-cardboard, wood and natural textiles parts) as well as
mixture of proteins,
carbohydrates and fats in biodegradable waste.
In this paper the contents of water and organic matter in sieve fractions (<10, 40-10 and
100-40) is presented. Investigations comprised two municipalities: Wrocław with over 500
thousand inhabitants and Dabrowa Gornicza with ca. 130 thousand dwellers. The waste
from Wrocław was examined in three year seasons (spring, summer and autumn) and was
sampling from three sectors typical of Polish cities:

central area of the city with mixed housing types and
heating system (central and
individual), high density of population,

new housing estates with high density of population, central heating system, small green
areas around houses,

one-family houses or small multifamily houses on the outskirts, in the suburbs and within
the city, many green areas, individual gardens, small density of population, individual
heating system (gas, coal, coke).
The results show the increase of organic matter, determined as weight loss at 600oC
(WL 600oC) together with the increase of fraction size. The highest contents of WL 600oC
for fraction 100-40 of all the sectors were observed In spring and for the smallest one in
autumn 2004.
The analyses in Wrocław were conducted to put the results into the Waste Management
model according to procedure described in detail in LCA-IWM [1]. However, in Dabrowa the
analyses were necessary for the starting phase of Waste Treatment Plant operation. The
composition of waste was an average value from three sectors mentioned above and was
performed according to the figure 1.
The primary and secondary waste categories were determined according to S.W.A Tool
Methodology [2]. The much more developed analyses (of the extended range) were
performed only in autumn-winter season for
both cities. For the chosen
o
primary and
secondary categories of waste apart from weight losses at 600 C also heat of combustion
(Hcomb) , TC and TOC were determined.
There are no straightforward correlation between the determined values. In Wrocław the
increase of Hcomb values for specific waste categories is not accompanied by proportional
increase of WL 600oC. The biggest differences can be found for packaging paper/card and
textiles waste from fractions 80-100 and > 100. High WL 600oC values
(88,4-92,1 %)
correspond with unexpectedly low values of Hcomb (12,9-16,7 MJ/kg dm) .
FRACTION
>80
FRACTION
20-80
FRACTION
<20
SIEVE 10 mm
SIEVE 100
-PRIMARY AND
SIEVE 40 mm
-WEIGHT
SECONDARY
mm
LOSSES AT 105,
WASTE
COMPOSITION
>100
80-100
20-40
40-80
10-20
-HEAT OF
-WEIGHT
LOSSES AT 105,
<10
600°C
-PRIMARY AND
-PRIMARY AND
600°C
SECONDARY
SECONDARY
-HEAT OF
WASTE
WASTE
COMBUSTION
COMPOSITION
COMPOSITION
-TOC, TC
-WEIGHT LOSSES
COMBUSTION
-WEIGHT
-TOC,TC
LOSSES AT
105, 600°C
Key
-WEIGHT LOSSES
AT 105, 600°C
AT 105, 600°C
-HEAT OF
WROCLAW
-HEAT OF
COMBUSTION
DABROWA
COMBUSTION
-TOC, TC
WROCLAW AND DABROWA
Fig.1. Municipal waste analyses scheme
In comparison, non packaging plastic film from the same fractions of similar WL 600 oC
values (91,5-91,6 %) correspond with much higher Hcomb (29,2-35,0 MJ/kg dm).
Much better correlation were found for determined TOC i Hcomb values
dependence
.
In the case of
TC - Hcomb the biggest aberration from general tendency of proportional
increase of both values occurs in wood waste isolated from the fractions 40-80 and > 80
from Dabrowa installation.
Detailed marking of organic matter content is not indispensable for the design and choice of
Municipal Waste Management scenarios (normally only the quantity of primary categories is
needed [1]). However, the results of this research will be useful In those scenarios where
thermal methods of waste treatment or RDF production is considered.
References
1. The Use of Life Cycle Assessment Tools for the Development of Integrated Waste
Management Strategies for Cities and Regions with Rapid Growing Economies, 5 FP
EVK4-CT-2002-0087, 2002-2005
2. Development of a methodological Tool to enhance the precision and the comparability of
solid waste analysis data, 5 FP EVK4-CT-2000-00030, 2001-2004