Abstract
As cities are becoming increasingly aware of problems related to conventional mobile collection systems, automated pipeline-based vacuum collection (AVAC) systems have been introduced in some densely populated urban areas. The reasons are that in addition to cost savings, AVAC systems can be efficient, hygienic, and environmentally friendly. Despite difficulties in making direct comparisons of municipal waste between a conventional mobile collection system and an AVAC system, it is meaningful to measure the quantities in each of these collection methods either in total or on a per capita generation of waste (PCGW, g/(day*capita)) basis. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the difference in per capita generation of household waste according to the different waste collection methods in Korea. Observations on household waste show that there were considerable differences according to waste collection methods. The value of per capita generation of food waste (PCGF) indicates that a person in a city using AVAC produces 60 % of PCGF (109.58 g/(day*capita)), on average, compared with that of a truck system (173.10 g/(day*capita)) as well as 23 %p less moisture component than that with trucks. The value of per capita generation of general waste (PCGG) in a city with an AVAC system showed 147.73 g/(day*capita), which is 20 % less than that with trucks delivered (185 g/(day*capita)). However, general waste sampled from AVAC showed a 35 %p increased moisture content versus truck delivery.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
An HS (2012) Research on managing incineration facility according to prediction of change in amount of waste. J Org Resour Recycl Assoc 20:23–30
Bowden R (2006) South Korea. Evans Brothers
Envac AB (2009) Vacuum technology. In: Envac_AB (ed)
Jae Myung L, Sung Hwan K, Byung Wook K, Mu Kyung S (1997) A study on the effective management plan of municipal solid wastes by generation characteristics. J Environ Policy Adm 5:233–242
Jae-Young K, Cae-Gun P, Joon-Seok P (2007) Effect of food waste direct landfilling prohibition on characteristics of landfill gas and leachate. J Korean Ind Eng Chem 18:612–617
Kangho J, Jae-Ho S, Joon Hyung H (2007) The effects of unit pricing system for household solid waste: focused on 6 metropolitan cities and 9 provinces. Korean Repub Adm Rev 41:175–201
Korea S (2010) Population and housing census Daejeon: Statistics Korea
Kwon YM (2010) A study on the improvement and problem of environment tax policy review of business & economics. 23:1797–1812
Lee SD (2003) Waste reduction and recycling law in Korea International Environmental Law Committee - Newsletter Archive 5 (No. 1)
Mills D (2004) Chapter 25—moisture and condensation. In: Mills D (ed) Pneumatic conveying design guide (second edition). Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, pp 547–569. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-075065471-5/50025-3
Ministry of Environment (2013) Statistics of wastes and waste treatment. Ministry of Environment; Korea Environment Corporation
Nakou D, Benardos A, Kaliampakos D (2014) Assessing the financial and environmental performance of underground automated vacuum waste collection systems. Tunn Undergr Space Technol 41:263–271. doi:10.1016/j.tust.2013.12.005
Punkkinen H, Merta E, Teerioja N, Moliis K, Kuvaja E (2012) Environmental sustainability comparison of a hypothetical pneumatic waste collection system and a door-to-door system. Waste Manag 32:1775–1781. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2012.05.003
Shin MS, Shin N, Jang DS (2013) A numerical study for effective operation of MSW incinerator for waste of high heating value by the addition of moisture air. J Korean Soc Environ Eng 35:115–123
Teerioja N, Moliis K, Kuvaja E, Ollikainen M, Punkkinen H, Merta E (2012) Pneumatic vs. door-to-door waste collection systems in existing urban areas: a comparison of economic performance. Waste Manag 32:1782–1791. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2012.05.027
UNESCO (2013) Kimjang, making and sharing kimchi in the Republic of Korea. UNESCO. http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/00881. 2014
Wickham JD, Stehman SV, Smith JH, Wade TG, Yang L (2004) A priori evaluation of two-stage cluster sampling for accuracy assessment of large-area land-cover maps. Int J Remote Sens 25:1235–1252. doi:10.1080/0143116031000149998
Yoon SP (2008) Effect of sample size of quartering and coning method on the result of waste composition study. J Korea Solid Wastes Eng Soc 25:447–453
Yoon GS, Lee GJ (2013) Analysis of changes in the characteristics of urban spatial structure in Korea through the population gradient curve. J Econ Geogr Soc Korea 16:445–457
Acknowledgments
This study was carried out as a part of a cooperative project between the Land and Housing Institute (LHI) and Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU). The project was funded by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Oh, J.H., Lee, EJ., Oh, J.I. et al. A comparative study on per capita waste generation according to a waste collecting system in Korea. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 7074–7080 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4834-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4834-7