BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The amount of SOLID waste produced and its impact on communities and the environment are becoming a global concern. This study aims to assess the amount, composition, and prediction models of SOLID waste generation in the study area. METHODS: SOLID waste data were collected from both residential and non-residential areas using stratified and systematic sampling approaches. Interviews and field measurements were used to obtain socioeconomic and SOLID waste data from 90 households and 69 samples from non-residential areas. FINDINGS: The research area’, s mean household SOLID waste generation rate is 0. 39kilograms per capita per day. Organic waste accounted for the majority of the waste generated in the study area (71. 28 percent), followed by other waste (9. 77 percent), paper (6. 71 percent), and plastic waste (6. 41 percent). The SOLID waste generation rate demonstrated a positive relationship (p<0. 05) with monthly household income and educational level. However, there was a negative association between family size and age (p > 0. 05). Based on a high regression coefficient determination value (0. 72), low mean absolute error (0. 094), sum square error (1. 28), and standard error of the estimate (0. 908), Model 4 was chosen as the best-fit model among the proposed models. CONCLUSION: The developed models met multiple linear regression assumptions and could be used to estimate the rate of household SOLID waste generation. This study generated large amounts of organic waste present in municipal SOLID waste sources that can contaminate the environment and have an impact on human health while also having a massive energy recovery capability.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the recovery potential of SOLID waste in Mashhad. The SOLID waste generated in the regions 4, 5 and 6 has been quantified and characterized using direct weighing, physical testing and truckload sampling methods. To determine the quantity and quality of waste generated and its seasonal variations, chemical and physical analysis were carried out for one year. The current situation concerning resource recovery and disposal of SOLID waste in Mashhad is also described. Results show that the average SOLID waste generation rate is around 0.58 kg/capita per day in these regions. Statistical studies reveal that the quantity of waste generated differ significantly in various seasons. The composition (on a weight basis) of the SOLID WASTES sampled was as follows: food WASTES 46%, yard waste 8%, plastics 12%, paper and cardboard 6%, textiles 15%, metals 2%, glass 6% and rubber 4% indicating a high amount of organic matter. Vegetable and food WASTES from the kitchen and yard WASTES accounted for more than 50% of the waste stream. The moisture content was around 45% and the heating value of the mixed WASTES around 4228 KJ/Kg (as-discarded basis). The nature of the WASTES indicate that amongst the   recovery options, composting at household level would be most appropriate as it would divert more than 50% of the WASTES from the traditional waste stream and provide households with compost which could be used to enrich soils in the gardens.

Characteristics of pulp and paper mill SOLID WASTES depend generally on the raw materials, stock preparation process as well as wastewater treatment plant. In order to determine the best application of paper mill SOLID WASTES, physicochemical properties of SOLID waste produced in the Mazandaran Wood and Paper Industry Co. and Latif Paper Co. were analyzed. The dry content, pH, fiber dimensions, composition of organic and inorganic compounds of the both SOLID were analyzed. The dry content of the produced WASTES in Latif and Mazandran were determined as 69.3 and 36.7 percent, respectively. The pH of both WASTES was close to neutral (pH/7.0). The fiber length of Latif and Mazandaran WASTES were 1.68 and 1.08 mm, respectively. In addition, the total amount of carbohydrates, glucose and mannose quantity in the Latif waste were determined as 48.09, 29.5 and 7.2 percent that were higher than that of Mazandaran waste. In the contrary, the lignin, xylose and galactose content of Mazandaran waste were determined as 15.3, 17.3 and 3.7 percent that were higher than those of Latif waste.The mineral content of Latif and Mazandarn WASTES were determined 44.7 and 39.5 percent, respectively. XRF analyses revealed that the predominant elements in the incinerated ash of both WASTES contained calcium oxide, aluminum oxide and silicon oxide that can be used as raw material for lightweight concrete and zeolite synthesis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Increasing of world population and excessively consumption of the needed materials result to greatly household SOLID WASTES generation that can threaten human health and environment. Thus, application of appropriate methods for SOLID waste disposal is effective on community health. This study was performed to identify the capability of native earthworms of Mazandaran province (Iran) for compost production from household SOLID WASTES.METHODS: In this cross sectional study, the types of earthworms were separated based on appearance characteristics. Plastic bin, loam soil, sand and animal fertilizer were used for bedding. 50 gr of vegetable (lettuce) was poured on the bed. Earthworms with a certain number and weight were located on soil bed. Sequential water was added to beds for moisture control. Seventeen and thirty-five days after loading, the soil of different beds were assessed for chemical and microbiological analysis.FINDINGS: The organic matter, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and electrical conductivity in initial substrate and vermicompost increased from 16.8% to 40.2 and 45.2%, from 1.95% to 3.9 and 5.85%, from 1.1% to 3.6 and 3.9%, from 1.8% to 2 and 2.6% and from 344 to 372 and 1068 microsiemens per centimeter, respectively. Ash percentage, C/N ratio and total coliforms in initial substrate and vermicompost decreased from 83.2% to 65% and 59.8%, from 1.75% to 1.63% and 1.49 %and from 4.5×106 to 3.3×103 and 1.3×103 MPN/100ml, respectively.CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that earthworms can produce compost from household SOLID WASTES during 17 days.

Introduction & Objective: Unhygienic methods of colleting, storage, transportation and disposal of the hospital WASTES results in serious hazards that can endanger the health and environment. These materials are classified as dangerous, and have to be collected and disposed based on special rules.Materials & Methods: In the present study we aimed to evaluate the quality of management of hospital WASTES and to estimate the waste constituents in Yasuj hospitals. Density, constituents, methods of collecting, transportation and disposal of hospital WASTES were evaluated in 3 consecutive days of every months of the year 2006.Results: Study showed that the daily production of SOLID WASTES was 5.5 Kg per hospital bed and infected SOLID WASTES were estimated to be 1.5 Kg per hospital bed. The total SOLID waste production was 1350 Kg per day which included 27.2 percent as infected SOLID WASTES. SOLID waste density was 160.7 Kg per cubic meter and its constituents were food WASTES (19.753%), rubber (47.02%), paper (12.05%), glass (5.211%), metals (3.41%) and bandages, gases, clothes, etc (12.556%).Conclusion: The findings suggest that the SOLID waste management of the studied hospitals is not satisfying and more attention must be paid to the critical issues, such as plans for reducing SOLID WASTES, isolating infected SOLID WASTES at the production site and using safe and updated methods of disposal of SOLID WASTES.

Iran is a developing country with a population of over 80 million. The total daily MSWs production in Iran is about 50 million kg. Most of the MSWs in this country is being disposed of in the landfills. Some of the landfills are located in the urban area or near to sea, river, and forest. In this regard, the management of MSWS becomes a concern in Iran. One solution to manage MSWs and mitigate their environmental impacts is to capture the biogas production. Thus, this research presents the potential biogas generation from MSWs in Iran. The findings of this study illustrated that Iran's daily energy generation potential from MSW is equal to 31, 676 barrels of crude oil. The yearly biogas potential generation from MSWs resources is equal to 13. 4 million barrels of crude oil equivalent. Overall, the results of this research show that there is a tremendous potential to generate energy and reduce the environmental impact of MSWs in Iran through converting them to the biogas.

Introduction: It is estimated that in our country, Iran, there is a portion of 6% contribution to formation of all accidents and unfavorable natural disasters of the world and as Iran is on the middle part of the Alp - Himalaya earthquake belt, the most important disaster is believed to be the earthquake. After the terrible earthquake of Manjil, in which more than 20000 people were killed, another deadly earthquake struck in Barn city in Kerman province (South East of Iran in 1990 occurred at 5.22 a.m. 26 December 2003) with the magnitude of6.5 on the scale of Richter. More than 40000 people were killed; destruction of about 85% in this city was reported and almost all brick dwellings especially in the ancient parts of the city were completely destroyed; from the economical point of view, the loss was estimated to be 1.5 billion dollars. Material and Methods: In this study, quality of generated SOLID WASTES, collection and transportation of them before and after the earthquake have been determined with regard to the data and statistics from municipalities, health centers of the Province as well as observations and interviews around Barn city.Results: Results showed that SOLID WASTES generated before the earthquake was about 120 ton per day and the WASTES collection system was home by home. The final disposal site at that period was between Darestan Mountains, 22 kilometers far from the east of Barn; transportation was accomplished by both pickups and trucks. According to the results of this study it was found that after the recorded earthquake, about 200 ton SOLID WASTES had been generated daily which were transported to the previous landfill after collection from camps and transferred to established stations. Then, WASTES were ignited daily but construction rubbishes were transferred to a valley intended as a disposal site which was located at a distance of 20 km from Barn. Because of no direct supervising, the latter rubbishes were distributed along the road of Barn to Bravat. Discussion: In any earthquake, two actions with regard to the earthquake WASTES and its management should be taken before and after the earthquake. It should be kept in mind that any prepared previous planning related to earthquake and its SOLID WASTES can reduce extra budgeting and will have economical savings. With regard to our experience in Barn earthquake with all problems and challenges, presentation of basic solutions related to SOLID WASTES management before and after earthquake, can produce a clear guideline in this regard.

Background and purpose: In spite of many studies on composting from municipal SOLID WASTES, rural SOLID WASTES have not been studied. A high percentages of rural SOLID WASTES containing domestic, animal and agricultural SOLID waste is biodegradable. The objective of this research was to study the chemical and microbial quality of compost produced by mixed rural SOLID WASTES and other composts.Materials and methods: In this study, food WASTES mixed with animal and agricultural WASTES with a weight ratio of 2, 5 and 2 (with a final mixed weighting 150 kg) were studied. For investigation of chemical quality of these materials, some indexes such as carbon/ nitrogen ratio, percentage of carbon, phosphorus, potassium, lead, cadmium and zinc were measured. Microbial quality of these compost materials were defined by assessing the amounts of coliforms and parasite ova.Results: The average amounts of some indices in mixed, household and animal composts were: C/N (14 ± 1.5; 20 ± 1.7; 17 ± 1.8), percentages of organic material (73 ± 3.9; 64 ± 3.8; 76 ± 2.5), carbon (32 ± 2.2; 40 ± 2.4; 37 ± 4.5), nitrogen (2.5 ± 0.5; 1.5 ± 0.6; 1.9 ± 0.3) and lead in mg/Kg (3.5 ± 0.7;16 ± 2.9; 11 ± 1.9), cadmium (0.3 ± 0.05; 3 ± 0.9; 1.5 ± 0.4), respectively. The number of total fecal coliforms in compost produced by mixed SOLID materials was 643 ± 176; 131 ± 52 respectively in 10 g of SOLID materials and the number of parasite ova was less than 2 in 4 g SOLID materials. The compost quality of mixed materials was in agreement with class A of USEPA guidelines hence, usable for flower and plant culturing.Conclusion: Composting may be considered a method to manage the rural SOLID waste problem.

Background and Objectives: Integrated SOLID waste management is one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the public and private institutions. This requires knowledge of the composition and sources of waste production. The aim of this study was to determine the quality and quantity of common waste at the faculty of health and nutrition and medical schools.Material and Methods: This study was a cross sectional and descriptive study on the point of all-waste generated in both schools. A total of 24 samples were taken and weighted from each school. Data were analyzed with SPSS and Excel. T-test was used for comparison of means following normality test of the data.Results: Average of waste produced at faculties of health and nutrition and medicine were 37±7 and 30±3 kg per day, respectively. Paper and metals were the highest and lowest part of SOLID waste, respectively with daily average of 15 and 2 kg. Paper is accounted about 40 to 45 percent by weight of the total waste. Per capita waste production in the faculty of health and nutrition is nearly twice faculty of medicine. The total waste per capita of university was estimated at about 15 kg per person per year.Conclusion: University SOLID waste per capita, especially the amount of paper, is high compared with the other researches. The highest amount of waste material examined in this study is recyclable at source. Training programs and changes in attitude and practice must be applied for students and staff to produce less waste to protect environment and natural resource and create a green university.