SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT, RECYCLING AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE EXISTING SITUATION IN KONYA CITY, TURKEY

7th International Scientific Conference - SGEM2007, www.sgem.org, SGEM2007 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 11-15, 2007

ABSTRACT

Collection, transport, transfer, recycling and proper disposal of solid waste is an
essential issue for the local authorities of large metropolitan areas.
Turkey, especially in the metropolitan cities like Konya, has been combatting
with the same problem, changing the institutional structure of the national
policy and the necessary legislation about the solid waste management and the
implementation of the recyling-recovery programs to reduce the amount of the
solid waste to be disposed of at the sanitary landfills are the immediate actions to
be applied to solve the solid waste problem.
In this study, it is aimed to determine the amount of recoverable materials from
household solid waste by seperation at source techniques in Konya Metropolitan
Municipality. For this purpose, researches were done between 1995-2006 years
on the generation rate and quantity of recovered materials in municipal solid
wastes in Konya are summarised. According to these, the population of Konya
city is estimated as 1.021.580 in the population projection for the year 2007, daily
amount of the solid waste generated is about 1.01kg (2.49L) per person. Some
properties of solid waste found are given as follows; density of the municipal solid
waste: 405kg/m3, moisture: 71%, ash: 18.51%, volatile organic matter: 81.49% and
high heating value: 4833cal/g.
Additionally, generation rate of recoverable materials of municipal solid waste
in waste disposal area was found to be 0.23% and the most of the recoverable
materials are paper-cardboard 21%, glass 15%, metal 15%, PET 27%, plastics
10%, nylon bag 12%.
The results from this study were evaluated and the benefits of “seperation at
source” system for Konya were described.

Keywords: Municipal solid waste, recycle, solid waste management, waste
minimization.