644 MANAGEMENT OF SOLID WASTE
dumps that are currently in use. It also requires that crite-
ria for sanitary landfills be established. However, it leaves
enforcement to the states. At the same time, the Act under
Subtitle C provides for federal regulation of the manage-
ment of Hazardous Wastes. Many of these regulations have
been issued but the critical ones covering treatment, stor-
age and disposal facilities are still under review.SOURCES OF WASTESolid waste differs from air and water pollutants in that it
comes in discrete quanta and is very heterogeneous in nature.
Both composition and rate vary significantly from day to day
and from season to season as well as from otherwise similar
sources.
The solid waste production in the United States is in excess
of four billion tons/year and was expected to increase to five
billion tons by 1980.^6 Table 1 breaks this down for the year
1967 by major source. However, waste generation appears to
have stabilized despite increased loads from air and water pol-
lution control facilities. How long this will last remains to be
seen, if and when significant conversions to “coal as fuel” and
more stringent air and water pollution control take place.Urban WasteUrban waste collected is between 4 and 8 lbs per person per
day, with typical values lying between 4.5 and 5.5 lbs per day.
This differs from the amount generated because of self and
private disposal. The major wastes included in this category
are tabulated in Table 2, which includes a summary of disposal
trends. One should be careful in the terminology because often
domestic and municipal are used interchangeably to indicate
the total refuse picked up from residential (domestic), institu-
tional, small business and light industrial sources.
Some further definition of terms may be useful at this
point. In general usage many of the terms have been used
interchangeably. However, an effort to standardize the ter-
minology was made by the Institute for Solid Waste of
the American Public Works Association and the Office of
Solid Waste Management of the Environmental Protection
Agency.^7 The standard usage of terms detailed by these
groups is summarized here:Refuse All solid waste matter.
Garbage The animal and vegetable waste resulting
from the preparation of food.
Rubbish The waste from homes, small businesses,
and so on excluding garbage.
Trash Used equivalent to rubbish.
Litter Street refuse.
Industrial Waste Specialized refuse from manufactur-
ing plants, and usually excludes rubbish.Domestic waste composition will vary seasonally, as well as
with locale and economic status. Typical analyses for domes-
tic plus municipal refuse are shown in Table 3. As can be
seen in a comparison of the data, the composition has notchanged drastically with time except for a significant reduc-
tion in ash because of the change from coal as a home heat-
ing fuel. Location variations noted are as great or greater. A
study of seasonal variations made in 1939 for New York City
also showed greater variations: the ranges were garbage, 44 to
3.5%; and metal, 11.6 to 3.1%.^8 Base data have been difficult
to obtain because of the many variabilities in the base. The
most significant variables include the economic level of the
area, the ratio of commercial to residential property, the type
of commercial establishments and the housing density and
age. The entire picture on obtaining accurate data on urban
and/or domestic refuse is further complicated by the sampling
problem. A discussion of this problem is beyond the scope of
this work; the reader is referred to some basic work in this area
by Carruth.^9 An excellent review of sampling and testing has
been prepared by the Institute of Solid Wastes.^10 Further work
is being done in this area by ASTM’s D-34 Committee.
The ultimate chemical composition of municipal refuse has
been examined by a number of investigators. Table 4 gives the
range of values to be expected. Recently 0.3 to 0.5% chloride
has been found in refuse independent of the presence of poly-
vinyl chloride; this is due to the presence of salt primarily.^11
Density of municipal refuse varies with the load applied to
it. Typically household refuse has a density of 350–400 pounds
per cubic yard. Transfer stations and/or landfill operations can
compact it to between 500 and 800 lbs per cubic yard depend-
ing upon the material and conditions. The effect of compres-
sion on density for the Chandler, Arizona refuse is shown in
Figure 1. High pressure compaction (see Compaction) can
increase the density to 1200 to 1400 lbs per cubic yard.Industrial WastesIndustrial wastes amount to about 115 million tons annually.
They include any discarded solid materials resulting from anTABLE 1
Major sources of waste matter United States 1967^5SourceSolids generatedlab/cap/day Million tons/yrUrban
Domestic 3.5 128
Municipal 1.2 44
Commercial 2.3 84
Sub total 7.0 256
Industrial 3.0 110
Agricultural
Vegetation 15.0 552
Animal 43.0 1563
Sub total 58.0 2115
Mineral 30.8 1126
Federal 1.2 43
Total 100.0 3650C013_002_r03.indd 644C013_002_r03.indd 644 11/18/2005 2:27:17 PM11/18/2005 2:27:17 PM