Characterization of solid waste of Davao City

Abstract

Three samples were collected in New Carmen, Tugbok District, Davao City where the landfill is located. Sampling was done on the month of January, March, and May of 2016 with two months interval per sampling. Two hundred kilogram (200kg) of sample solid waste were collected. Quartering and coning were performed until approximately 2 kg of sample was attained. The samples were subjected to drying using an oven for 1000C until 30% weight reduction was attained. Segregation and crushing was performed and the combustible materials were incinerated using an electric furnace at 8000C for 2 hours for complete combustion. Results showed that an average of 44.47% moisture content, 20.97% ash content, 34.60% combustible content and 5334.67 KJ/kg calorific value were present in the three solid waste samples analyzed. Among the three samples, plastic constituted the largest percentile quantity ranging from 25.5% - 42.1% of the total solid waste followed by fiber and organic matter with a percentile quantity ranging from 7.1% - 18.2% and 4% - 21.6% of the total solid waste respectively. Keywords: Solid waste, moisture content, ash content, combustible content, calorific value