Improper household waste disposal in rural territory: case study: Neamt County, Romania

Abstract

Open dumping of waste generated and uncollected is the most common option in waste management schemes from rural areas. Lack of sanitation services or rudimentary waste management systems favored this practice. This paper proposes a method to estimate the amounts of household waste uncontrolled disposed at local administrative unit level (commune) for 2003 and 2010. Based on estimating the amounts of waste generated and uncollected are introduced new indicators in the quantitative analysis taking into account the household waste composition, individual composting of biodegradable waste or recyclable waste from households for a more proper assessment of waste disposed. Usually household waste is disposed in various sites according to local geographical context such as open dumps on local roadsides, forest areas or on riverbanks. The indicators were calculated for each commune from the county that did not have access to sanitation services. Processed data were mapped, thematic maps outlining regional disparities existing between communes from county. Comparative analysis of the years 2003 (pre-accession period) and 2010 (post-accession) highlights the changes and difficulties to provide waste management facilities in rural territory.