Characterization of solid waste an institution of higher education: A case study of the Robledo campus of the National University of Colombia, Medellín Headquarters

Abstract

The following article shows the results of solid waste (SW) characterization from the Robledo campus of the National University of Colombia, Medellín headquarters. The purpose of the study was to determine the total and specific production of non-hazardous waste, in addition to establishing intervention measures related to environmental education, use, recovery, containers purchase, and decrease in the cleaning tax, among others, that can be implemented by the university directives shortly. In the characterized period (one week), all the non-hazardous waste generated in each of the blocks (buildings), restaurants and/or cafeterias was weighed and established their physical composition to determine the kind most predominances generated. The technical standard ASTM D5231-92 and the Pan-American Center for Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Sciences CEPIS/OPS guidelines were used to determine the sampling period, physical composition, per capita production, and density. The results showed that on-campus, 1 146.9 kg of SW are generated per week, 163.7 kg/day, and a per capita production of 0.054 kg/person-day, finding that there is a large generation of organic waste (459.78 kg/week) and that restaurants and/or cafeterias contribute significantly to the generation of waste (50.39 %). These results will also make it possible to establish benchmarks compared with other universities and economic sectors, formulate sustainability strategies and public policies, and correct local and regional environmental problems associated with solid waste management.