Municipal solid waste generation assessment in the state of Goiás, Brazil: statistical data analysis

ABSTRACT

The most suitable definition of a city’s municipal solid waste (MSW) management system is mandatorily related to the amount of MSW generated. The state of Goiás faced such problem, since some of its municipalities had their MSW production data, but the state did not have an overall generation number. Considering this scenario, a questionnaire was sent to the municipalities of Goiás requesting information on their solid waste, among which was the MSW generation. The aim of this study was to conduct a statistical analysis of the MSW amount the state’s municipalities have affirmed to generate, according to the questionnaires, and compare it with the quantitative data obtained in studies carried out in municipalities of the state. The results of the production provided by the municipalities have shown that the smaller the cities, the higher the generation of MSW per capita, a finding that goes against scientific research, which has proven that the larger the population, the higher the production per person. For municipalities with up to 50 thousand inhabitants, there are significant differences between the numbers presented in the questionnaires and those in the theoretical generation. On the other hand, municipalities with more than 50 thousand inhabitants don’t have numbers so significantly different. The questionnaire data also revealed that there’s no correspondence between the MSW generated per capita and the number of inhabitants, information contrary to what the theory states. However, it was still possible to measure the amount of MSW generated by Goiás cities, something that should be of great value to help decide the best technologies to the state’s MSW management.

Keywords:
municipal solid waste; statistical analysis; nonparametric and parametric tests; Goiás