Seasonal characterization and present status of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Varanasi, India

The paper aims to characterise the waste generated in municipality of Varanasi, the most populated city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. MSW is a heterogeneous waste and composition of the waste varied from season to season. The generation, collection and management of waste have become a major environmental problem in most of the developing cities. MSW was collected from open dumping grounds for 2 consecutive years. Each year was classified into 3 seasons of 4 months. On analysis it was found that the biodegradable fraction is always more than other fractions with a minimum of 48.25% in rainy season. With such a high fraction of biodegradable wastes, options such as composting and biomethanation could be tried to convert waste into energy. The average weight of waste generation at present is 0.460 kg per capita per day. The study showed that waste generation and collection were increasing every year, which may be attributed to increase in population.