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Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman
Facultad de Ingeniera Ensenada, Universidad Autnoma de Baja California, Km. 103 Carretera Tijuana-Ensenada, Ensenada Baja California C.P. 22860, Mexico
Instituto de Ingeniera, Blvd. Benito Jurez y Calle de la Normal S/N, Col. Maestros Federales, Universidad Autnoma de Baja California, Mexicali, Baja California C.P. 21280, Mexico
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Accepted 28 March 2008
Available online 24 June 2008
a b s t r a c t
Integrated waste management systems are one of the greatest challenges for sustainable development.
For these systems to be successful, the rst step is to carry out waste characterization studies. In this
paper are reported the results of a waste characterization study performed in the Campus Mexicali I of
the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC). The aim of this study was to set the basis for implementation of a recovery, reduction and recycling waste management program at the campus.
It was found that the campus Mexicali I produces 1 ton of solid wastes per day; more than 65% of these
wastes are recyclable or potentially recyclable. These results showed that a program for segregation and
recycling is feasible on a University Campus. The study also showed that the local market for recyclable
waste, under present conditions number of recycling companies and amounts of recyclables accepted
can absorb all of these wastes. Some alternatives for the potentially recyclables wastes are discussed.
Finally some strategies that could be used to reduce waste at the source are discussed as well.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The type of decision making that leads to adequate solid waste
management (SWM) requires a sound understanding of the composition and the processes that determine the generation of waste
(Acurio et al., 1997). Special attention should be paid to the waste
generation sources since the characteristics and composition of the
waste differ according to their source (Tchobanoglous et al., 1996).
Considering this, waste management programs based on the
knowledge of the waste composition and on the condition of the
market for recyclables would be more successful than the ambitious programs copied from somewhere else. For this reason, when
proposing waste management strategies these must be based on
the reality of the generating source, thus, it is important to know
both the characteristics of the waste and the recyclables local
market.
Despite the very diverse benets of a suitable waste management system, the setting of a new waste system is not an easy task.
Strange (2002) argues that to face the problems associated with
waste management, different strategies such as plans and programs, technical standards and mandatory regulations, nancial
strategies (taxes and nancial incentives) and persuasive strategies
(information campaigns, public relationships and environmental
management systems) must be implemented to minimize waste.
In the Mexican case, some of these strategies have been used to
control the problems of hazardous waste but not all for municipal
solid waste (MSW).
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +52 646 175 07 44; fax: +52 646 174 43 33.
E-mail address: carmijo@uabc.mx (C. Armijo de Vega).
0956-053X/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2008.03.022
In Mexico, the municipal authorities are in charge of the cleaning services of the cities, including sweeping; waste collection and
transport are part of the duties of the municipality (INE, 1999). This
way, the municipality of Mexicali has its own strategies and regulations; nevertheless, these do not include the valorization, reduction, and segregation of wastes that could help generators to
improve their waste management practices.
In 2004, the General Law for Waste Prevention and Integrated
Management (SEMARNAT, 2003) took effect. According to this
new law, waste generators are obliged to minimize waste generation and to valorize and manage waste in an integrated manner.
Among other aspects, this law requires generators to carry out a
basic characterization that allows them to standardize their waste
inventory and helps them to orient and promote waste valorization; waste reduction practices and to develop strategies for the
implementation of integrated waste management systems. In spite
that the new law took effect in 2004, to date most Mexican cities,
municipalities and organizations are not prepared to comply with
the new requirements for waste management.
In Mexicali, as in many other Mexican cities, solid waste is not
segregated before collection and processing. In the case of universities waste is not segregated as well. Municipal services for waste
collection do not provide this service to universities. It is the
responsibility of each institution to contract out this service to a
private company. Considering this, it is clear that reducing the
quantity of wastes that have to be handled, transported and disposed in a landll could lead to two main results: (1) a reduction
of the institutional expenditure dedicated to waste management
and (2) an increase of the useful life of the sanitary landll. Besides
these benets, a reduction in the amount of waste produced by
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aim of this paper is to reduce the gap between the need for this
type of study and the demands imposed by the recent Mexican regulations for solid waste. The main purpose of this study was to
determine the quantity, quality and recycling potential of the
waste generated in one of the four campuses of the Autonomous
University of Baja California (UABC). The data generated by this research would produce the necessary information to set up an integrated waste management program.
2. Method
The study on solid waste in the UABC Mexicali I Campus consisted of three main stages: (1) estimate of the daily solid waste
generation, (2) solid waste sampling and characterization of samples, and (3) data capture and analysis of the amounts and types
of wastes generated at the Campus.
2.1. Estimate of the daily solid waste generation
In view of the fact that, before this study was carried out, no
data on solid waste generation within the campus had never been
kept in the UABC, this information had to be an estimate.
The estimate of daily generation was carried out based on the
weight of solid waste collected by the private company which provided its services to the UABC. All the waste generated at campus
was collected by the private company. In order to determine the
weight of the solid waste generated within the campus, rst the
weight of the empty truck had to be known. The difference between the weight of the full truck and the empty truck provided
the weight of the load. Later, on 45 different occasions, the truck
was weighed with the full cargo of solid waste from the campus.
That information was used to calculate the average weight of each
load. With the information on the average weight of the loaded
truck and the number of times a week the truck was lled with
UABCs solid waste, it was possible to estimate the daily generation.
2.2. Sampling and characterization of the sample
The samples were taken from three different points of generation: (1) academic and administrative buildings (including laboratories), (2) gardens and corridors, and (3) the community center
(store, dining room and cafeteria areas). These three points are representative because they cover all the activities carried out at the
campus. The characterization of the solid waste was carried out
using the modied methodology for the characterization of household waste proposed by Buenrostro-Delgado (2001). Samples were
taken during 14 consecutive days (excluding Sundays); the samples on the rst 2 days were trial samplings. This trial sampling
helped to unify criteria for data collection and for the identication
of the solid waste. The results from the solid waste analyzed during
the following 12 days are the ones reported in this article.
The characterization data were collected by using the format of
data collection by sub-products. This format was structured with
the categories considered by the College and University Recycling
Council (CURC, 2001) as shown in Table 1.
The CURC categories shown in Table 1 were used taking into
consideration future comparisons with the results from similar
studies carried out in other universities.
2.3. Data recording and analysis
The weight of each category of waste was recorded in a database. The database was structured with the categories and sub-categories shown in Table 1. The weight percentage for each subcategory was calculated using the following equation:
S23
Academic unit
Date
Plastics (g)
Containers1a
Containers2a
Containers 37a
Other containers
Plastic mixed
Bags
Foam
Organic (g)
Food waste
Leaves and grass
Trees and branches
Metals (g)
Aluminum cans
Tin
Metal mixed
Glass (g)
Bottles clear
Bottles green
Bottles amber
Other types of glass
Hazardous (g)
Cleaner
PL
100
PT
Plastics
Organic
Metals
Glass
Batteries
Construction/
Demolition
Hazardous
Insecticides
Other (describe)
a
Refers to the number on the recycling symbol printed on the plastic bottle.
Containers 1 = PET, Containers 2 = HDPE, Containers 37 for the rest of the recyclable resins.
PS
Harvest waste
Organic mixed
Other (g)
Sanitary waste
Other (describe)
Waste sub-categories
Recycling
potentialb
1
Reactive agents
Construction/demolition
Gravel and sand
Rocks
Wood
Other
Observations
Table 2
Recycling potential for waste sub-categories
Other
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
a
Refers to the number inside the recycling symbol which appears in the plastic
containers. Containers 1 = PET, Containers 2 = HDPE, Containers 37 the rest of the
recyclable resins. Modied from Ojeda-Bentez et al. (2000). This table is structured
according to the local recyclables market in the city of Mexicali.
b
1 = Waste for which there exists a recycling market, 2 = Recyclable waste for
which there does not exist a local market, 3 = Non-recyclable waste.
Table 3
Composition (% by wt.) of solid waste generated in the UABC buildings, gardens and
community center
Waste categories
Paper and cardboard
Plastics
Organic
Metals
Glass
Construction/demolition
Hazardous
Other
Total
The average weight of one full truck waste cargo was 1000 kg
(0.15, a = 95%); one trip was made to the sanitary landll per
day, with a full waste cargo. The solid waste generation rate for
the UABC Mexicali I Campus was, on average, 1 ton/day taking into
account the three generation sources analyzed.
3.2. Waste characterization
In total, 4800 kg of waste were segregated, of which, 2567 kg
originated from samples taken from buildings, 1360 kg from gardens, 238 kg from the community center, and 673 kg from unknown origin as the bags did not have a source identication.
As the daily waste generation rate estimate was 1 ton, an average of approximately 0.4 ton of waste was characterized per day.
This corresponds to 38.3% of the waste generated each day. The
waste analyzed from the three sources provided the results shown
in Table 3.
Buildings (%)
Gardens (%)
43.6
6.7
10.2
2.5
3.6
1.8
0.3
31.3
7.5
3.0
80.0
0.4
1.7
0.2
0.2
7.0
23.3
8.2
54.1
4.5
4.6
1.9
0
3.4
100.00
100.00
100.00
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4. Discussion
The characterization of solid waste is the rst step in the planning of integrated waste management. Knowing the composition
of the waste allows for dening the strategies for separation, collection and frequency of collection for recycling.
The results of this study brought to light two important aspects:
(1) the high recovery potential of waste for its recycling and (2) the
challenge its integrated management implies.
The waste from the UABC presents a high recovery potential
both in the case of waste generated in buildings and waste from
gardens and the community center. The larger proportion of waste
is found within the recyclable and potentially recyclable categories
which, as a whole, represent 55% in the case of buildings, 88% in
the case of gardens and 85% in the case of the community center.
Next, the results will be discussed individually according to the
generation source.
that receive this type of waste in an orderly and systematic fashion; therefore, this type of waste was considered as potentially
recyclable. Yet, this is a type of waste that is generated in a periodic, orderly and clean fashion. Pruning and mowing are carried
out twice a week by gardeners. Plant wastes are deposited in
receptacles only by gardeners; unlike other types of waste, like paper, which is generated throughout the day, by different people
and is deposited in various types of receptacles. The way in which
organic waste is collected from gardens is simpler than other types
of waste, thus the strategies for its reutilization call for a simple
system as well. Some Mexican universities are starting to use the
waste generated in gardens such as the Universidad Michoacana
de San Nicols Hidalgo (Michoacan University of San Nicolas Hidalgo), which proposed to use the organic waste to produce compost
to help programs for reforestation and maintenance of green areas
within the campus (Snchez-Yez et al., 2005).
4.3. Waste generated in the community center
S25
5. Conclusions
The daily generation of solid waste in the UABC Mexicali I Campus, is 1 ton.
The waste from the UABC shows a great potential for reutilization. The larger proportion of waste is found in the recyclable and
potentially recyclable categories which, as a whole, represent 55%
in the case of buildings, 88% in the case of gardens and 85% in the
case of the community center.
The local recyclables market can absorb the portion of waste
considered as recyclable.
The portion in the potentially recyclable category could have a
different destination other than the disposal in sanitary landlls.
S26
The possibility of delivering food waste to cattle raisers and the utilization to produce compost with organic waste was discussed.
Different strategies should be implemented on campus to reuse
waste such as used paper.
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