Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May;28(19):24406-24418.
doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-08431-x. Epub 2020 Apr 7.

Detailed municipal solid waste composition analysis for Nur-Sultan City, Kazakhstan with implications for sustainable waste management in Central Asia

Bexultan Abylkhani  1   2 , Mert Guney  3   4 , Berik Aiymbetov  1 , Almira Yagofarova  1   2 , Yerbol Sarbassov  1   2 , Antonis A Zorpas  5 , Christos Venetis  6 , Vassilis Inglezakis  7   8
Affiliations
Free article

Detailed municipal solid waste composition analysis for Nur-Sultan City, Kazakhstan with implications for sustainable waste management in Central Asia

Bexultan Abylkhani et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 May.
Free article

Abstract

A detailed characterization of municipal solid waste (MSW) beyond a standard compositional analysis may offer insights useful for improving waste management systems. The present paper contributes to the scarce literature in the field by presenting new data from a rapidly developing Central Asian city, the capital of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan. Three sampling campaigns (each 1 week long) have been conducted at the city landfill over a 1-year period (2018-2019), and a detailed characterization for selected waste components and sub-components has been performed. The major fractions of MSW were organics (46.3%), plastics (15.2%), paper (12.8%), and diapers (5.9%). The detailed composition analysis showed high LDPE (low-density polyethylene) content (5.5%) mostly comprised of plastic bags (4.5%), transparent glass (3.2%), pharmaceuticals (0.4%), and fine (i.e., < 12 mm) organic fraction content (29%). The MSW generation rate of Nur-Sultan was estimated as 1.47 kg capita-1 day-1 based on the field collection as well as literature data. Among sustainable waste management recommendations addressed for Nur-Sultan and applicable to other cities in Central Asia, composting is recommended due to high organics fraction in MSW and its great potential to reduce the landfilled waste volume and to help valorizing the waste.

Keywords: Composting; Landfill; Urban sustainability; Waste characterization; Waste generation rate.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Abylkhani B, Otarov R, Aimbetov B et al (2018) Astana City municipal solid waste characterization. Naxos 2018 6th International Conference on Solid Waste Management, Naxos, Greece, 11-18 June 2018
    1. Abylkhani B, Aimbetov B, Yagofarova A et al (2019) Seasonal characterisation of municipal solid waste from Astana city, Kazakhstan: composition and thermal properties of combustible fraction. Waste Manag Res 37(12):1271–1281. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X19875503 - DOI
    1. Aja O, Al-Kayiem H (2013) Review of municipal solid waste management options in Malaysia, with an emphasis on sustainable waste-to-energy options. J Mater Cycles Waste Manage 16(4):693–710 - DOI
    1. Al-Jabari M, Gyadah RA, Alokely R (2019) Recovery of hydrogel from baby diaper wastes and its application for enhancing soil irrigation management. J Environ Manag 239:255–261 - DOI
    1. ASTM International (American Society for Testing and Materials) (2016). Standard test method for determination of the composition of unprocessed municipal solid waste. Designation: D5231–92; ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA