DefinePK

Abstract

Under the influence of deterioration in solid waste management in Iraq, this paper describes the work conducted to improve the solid waste management practices in Al-Muthanna Governorate. Numbers of students and volunteers at the College of Engineering at Al-Muthanna University have developed a methodology to test solid waste characteristics at their homes, selected institutional locations, and various dumpsites in the two major cities in the governorate. The average of solid waste generation in the governorate was 0.78 ±0.23 kg/person/day, and it is applied to employees and students which are representing around 37.5% of the governorate's population. However, other classes of the population such as farmers, merchants, or workers are not expected to show significant differences. Municipalities of Al-Muthanna Governorate need to establish a solid waste management strategy that includes composting and recycling programs. Among the commingled waste, materials that can be composted (food waste, paper, cardboard, yard wastes, wood, and other organics), represent 56.2% of waste. Municipalities can easily find a market for paper and cardboard, so if they decided not to use them for composting, the remaining percentage is (40%) which is still significant.