Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Municipal Solid Waste in Gabes

Abstract

The most common way of solid waste disposal in many countries is landfilling. In Tunisia 65% of the solid waste is landfilled. However, although landfilling is cheap in comparison to other waste management options, it requires significant funds for the construction, the operation phase and the post-closure phase. The mechanical and biological pretreatment processes, applied for decades in developed countries, reduce the economic and environmental costs of landfilling by reducing the volumes of waste to be buried and stabilize them. In addition, recovering valuable materials upstream of the preprocessing can generate a product with high added value. A survey was conducted in 2017 to characterize the municipal solid waste (MSW) composition. Thereto the waste was analyzed during January–February (dry sea-son) and August–September (wet season). Municipal solid waste (MSW) in Gabes includes of a wide range of heterogeneous materials. The organic waste was the main fraction, followed by textiles, fines, paper, plastics, leather, rubber, glass, ceramic, and metal. The average MSW moisture content in Gabes landfill amounts to 69%.