Characteristics of municipal solid wastes from selected plots located at up-slope and down-slope of the dumping site: a case study in Udapalatha/Gampola

Abstract

Open dumpsite has become the most widely used and common practices in most of the developing countries in waste management due to their lack of will, technology, capital and virtuous attitudes. This has elevated the risk to the ecosystem and humans derived by the improper dumping of waste in bare lands, sloping lands (valleys, river banks), wet lands etc. Characterization of waste is an important primary stage in studying dumpsites in sloping lands to identify its effects and potential remedial actions, and to develop new technologies to reduce their adverse effects on the environment and society. In this research, waste characteristics of some selected plots located at up and down slope of a dumpsite were studied to identify the possible difference and their relationships with the slope. The results revealed that waste characteristics such as ash content, combustible content, ignition loss and aggregated soil content vary in the plots located at up and down slope, suggesting that the rolling and sliding of larger particles in high sloping dumpsites has a profound effect in varying waste characteristics. This was further confirmed by the particle size distribution of both plots.