Effects of Socio-economic Status and Daily Variation on Municipal Solid Waste Composition: A Preliminary Analysis for Sustainable Planning and Development in Aligarh City

In context of developing countries such as India, with great differences in living standards of people, different communities, MSW management is one of the most promising problems in front of municipal organizations. Unlike every city in India, Aligarh city is also facing the same problem of MSWM. This problem not only affects the aesthetic view but also it is hazardous to health of people nearby. Currently, solid waste collected is either dumped in landfill unscientifically or partially treated by A to Z waste management (limited) by composting. In the present study, an effort was made to know about the per capita waste generation and variations in the quantity of different components of the MSW in five different regions of the city of different living standards. Also, weekly variation was also analyzed in tie study. One Way Anova analysis using SPSS is performed to analyze the variations in the mean composition of different components. The per capita solid waste generation in Aligarh city was found to be 0.42 kg/person/day. From the analysis, we came to know that compostable component (35.4%) is the highest, then inert (24.6%), plastic (12.2%), paper (10%), textile (9.2%), sand (8.6%). After analysis, the results can be helpful in sorting out the problem of MSW management in the city by selecting appropriate units as per composition of MSW.