A Study of Commercial Solid Waste Generation and Composition in Phnom Penh City, CAMBODIA

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a study carried out in Phnom Penh city, Cambodia, on the basis of commercial solid waste. The waste samples were collected from hotels, restaurants, internet cafés, guesthouses, beer gardens, markets, schools, microfinances and shops from 22 July–28 August 2013. The objectives of this research are to determine waste generation rate, physical composition, and the level of recyclables remaining in the residual of waste stream and to evaluate the appropriate technology for waste treatment. The waste from 52 commercial sectors were daily collected and segregated into 23 categories. The results show that composition of commercial waste consist of 56.70% (biodegradable), 19.32% (plastic), 14.84% (paper), 8.14% (inorganics), 1.25% (textiles & shoes), 0.25% (rubber/leather), and 0.01% (wax). Waste generation rate (kg/cap/day) is 1.31 (internet cafés), 1.04 (restaurants), 0.84 (beer gardens), 0.51 (guesthouses), 0.33 (hotels), 0.23 (markets-family marts), 0.19 (ministries), 0.13 (council of ministers) and 0.11 (stores-phone, grocery and small cloth shops). In addition, schools and microfinance agencies produce waste less than 0.1.The most sorted wastes by those sectors are food waste, followed by glass bottle, paper, PET bottle, aluminium can and steels. The most recyclable remaining in unsorted waste is plastic, followed by paper, steels and aluminium can. Finally, treatment options for organic waste from commercial sectors in Phnom Penh were discussed.

Keywords: Commercial solid waste; Recyclables; Composition; Waste Generation Rate, Phnom Penh