Composition of municipal solid waste in Denmark

Data for the composition of municipal solid waste is a critical basis for any assessment of waste technologies and waste management systems. The detailed quantification of waste fractions is absolutely needed for a better technological development of waste treatment. The current waste composition data in Denmark are among the most detailed in the world. However, these data are more than 10 years old, and the following issues remain very important: (1) sampling approach, (2) representativeness of samples, (3) data uncertainties, (4) time and geographical variation. Moreover, in the absence of standardised and commonly accepted waste characterization methodologies, various approaches have been reported in literature. This limits both comparability and applicability of the results. The purpose of this study was to introduce a consistent methodology that reduces uncertainties and ensures data comparability to characterize municipal solid waste. This methodology was applied to residual waste collected from 1,442 households in three municipalities in Denmark. The main fractions contributing to the residual household waste were food waste and miscellaneous waste. Statistical analysis suggested that housing type is a critical stratification parameter for characterization of residual household waste.