Published on December 2022 | Waste Management

Challenges and Opportunities of Urban Solid Waste Management in Sulaymaniyah City

One of the major worldwide environmental pollution concerns is the increase in waste generation due to the rapid world population growth and development which needs to be managed in an environmentally safe manner. How to manage solid waste has necessitated greater knowledge of the composition, generation quantity, physical properties, and impacts of economic aspects to protect the environment and step toward sustainable development. This study aims to investigate the municipal solid waste generation and estimate the future prediction of the cumulative solid waste amount with population growth by 2050 in Sulaymaniyah city, using brief calculations of the secondary data of solid waste generation for five years (from 2016 to 2020) collected from the Solid Waste Management Department, the General Directorate of The Municipality of Sulaymaniyah City, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The results revealed that even though the population increased with an annual average growth rate of 1.99% and a change of 10.34%, solid waste generation has decreased with an annual average growth rate of - 2.29% and a change of -9.26%. Food waste had the highest rate of 64.3% in 2016 and continually augmented to 72.59% in 2020 with an increase in change rate of 12.89% and an average annual growth rate of 3.17 Additionally, based on the current and predicted population growth, the solid waste generation will increase by 129.20% to 1.053 Kg/(capita. day) in 2050, which will require a bigger area of the disposal site and better management in the future.