Solid waste composition studies as a tool for planning and evaluation of source sorting system : experiences from last twenty years in Sweden

Abstract

Household waste recycling programs have been introduced and different waste-sorting and collection systems have been developed in Sweden during recent decades. Evolution and comparison of the different systems was made difficult by the lack of comparable data. A number of different methods for solid waste composition studies were used in parallel for twenty years ago in Sweden. Nordtest (Nordic Innovations Centre) provides a standard method for sampling and characterization of municipal solid waste (Nordtest, 1995). Based on the Nordtest standard, a waste management company in Sweden (NSR AB) has implemented a procedure for characterization of solid waste, regularly used in their waste treatment lines since 1997. The NSR-method has been developed with regard to practical experiences. Loads of ordinary waste transport vehicles are used for sampling, and sorting is done manually into 20 components. In a joint project between Luleå University of Technology, NSR AB, The Swedish Sustainability Foundation and RVF, a manual for household waste composition analysis was suggested, designed for Swedish conditions in 2005.

This manual has been revised in 2013 and is now used by Envir AB as a standard method that enables evaluation of different collection systems by determining error ratio in source sorted fractions. A stepby- step manual goes through the procedure: 1; preinvestigation and analysis design. 2; Collection of samples using ordinary collection vehicles. 3; Sample splitting. 4; Sorting and classification into 9 primary and 22 secondary categories. 5; Evaluation of data and presentation of results. The method, has been developed over the last 10 years and are used more and more to evaluate a collection system or to compare different collection systems such as curbside collection or drop-off systems in different municipalities in Sweden.