Solid Waste Quantity and Composition Analysis in a Private University within an Urban City: Basis for an Improved Institutional Solid Waste Management System

Voluminous solid waste negatively impacts both the environment and human health. Despite the laws on proper solid waste management (SWM) that have been promulgated, solid waste dumps remain a problem in the Philippines, especially in urban cities. In the selected private University in Western Visayas, Philippines, an SWM is in place, properly executed, and the surroundings are visibly clean. However, there is a need to determine whether or not such currently adopted SWM is appropriate and supportive of the universal call for proper solid waste management and environmental protection. Thus, this study investigated the current SWM of a private university in an urban city, completely gathered the disposed waste on an entire day’s operation, analyzed the primary waste data through standard solid waste characterization and analysis procedures, and investigated the possible causes of a significant volume of waste generation and disposal. The research aims to provide the University’s administrators with the necessary data and observations to improve the institutional SWM. Findings revealed that although cleaning and collecting waste for disposal are properly done, a considerable volume of waste is sent to the City’s dumping site. Furthermore, the institutional SWM does not include the important management aspects of higher hierarchy - prevention, minimization, reuse, recycling, and recovery before final disposal. While the study revealed that solid waste is an untapped resource in the University, the amount of waste can still be reduced through minimization at source applying better administrative directives, especially in the University’s canteen - the main source of waste.