Waste Management 53 (2016) 311

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

The determination of waste generation and composition as an essential

tool to improve the waste management plan of a university
A. Gallardo, N. Edo-Alcn, M. Carlos , M. Renau
Dept. Mechanical Engineering and Construction, Jaume I University, Av. de Vicent Sos Baynat s/n, 12071 Castell de la Plana, Spain

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 19 August 2015
Revised 6 April 2016
Accepted 11 April 2016
Available online 20 April 2016
Keywords:
Waste
Composition
Generation
Management
University

a b s t r a c t
When many people work in organized institutions or enterprises, those institutions or enterprises
become big meeting places that also have energy, water and resources necessities. One of these necessities is the correct management of the waste that is daily produced by these communities. Universities are
a good example of institution where every day a great amount of people go to work or to study. But independently of their task, they use the different services at the University such as cafeterias, canteens, and
photocopy and as a result of their activity a cleaning service is also needed. All these activities generate an
environmental impact. Nowadays, many Universities have accepted the challenge to minimize this
impact applying several measures. One of the impacts to be reduced is the waste generation. The first
step to implement measures to implement a waste management plan at a University is to know the composition, the amount and the distribution of the waste generated in its facilities. As the waste composition and generation depend among other things on the climate, these variables should be analysed over
one year. This research work estimates the waste generation and composition of a Spanish University, the
Universitat Jaume I, during a school year. To achieve this challenge, all the waste streams generated at the
University have been identified and quantified emphasizing on those which are not controlled.
Furthermore, several statistical analyses have been carried out to know if the season of the year or the
day of the week affect waste generation and composition. All this information will allow the
University authorities to propose a set of minimization measures to enhance the current management.
2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents
1.
2.

3.

4.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.
Identification of the waste generation sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.
Estimation of the waste generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3.
Estimation of the waste composition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4.
Results and statistical analysis of the data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Results and discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1.
Identification of the waste generating sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2.
Waste generation at UJI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.3.
Composition of the MW at UJI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1. Introduction
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A. Gallardo), [email protected]
(N. Edo-Alcn), [email protected] (M. Carlos), [email protected] (M. Renau).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.04.013
0956-053X/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The huge amount of waste produced, and consequently the

great difficulty involved in eliminating it, is still a problem in the
developed societies. This problem is embedded in the economic

A. Gallardo et al. / Waste Management 53 (2016) 311

system of production and consumption of current society, which

generates an increasingly large amount of waste. This increase in
waste production leads to a risk for both human health and the
environment (Tejedor, 2011). To contribute to a correct waste
management, the design and implementation of new tools are
needed that allow users to reduce the amount of waste generated
and improve waste management. Moreover, the amount and composition of the waste generated can depend on several factors such
as the time of the year, the climate, the degree of development, the
standard of living, and the eating habits (Aranda Usn et al., 2012;
Mendoza and Izquierdo, 2007; Tchobanoglous et al., 1993).
Nowadays, universities can be considered small towns, as they
have several campuses and buildings where the consumption of
energy, water, paper and other resources such as restaurant, cleaning, reprography and photocopy services are important. All these
issues have an influence on the daily activity of many people and
enterprises. Furthermore, they generate several direct and indirect
impacts on the environment. For this reason, universities must
accept their institutional responsibility (Capdevila, 1999). In any
case, these impacts could be minimized by applying appropriate
technical and organizational measures (Alshuwaikhat and
Abubakar, 2008).
Like the rest of the institutions involved in knowledge transmission, from the research as well as the teaching point of view, universities cannot ignore the environmental challenge. For this
reason, many universities have conducted studies to implement
measures to reduce the impact generated in their facilities. One
of these measures is correct waste management.
The design of university waste management systems (UWMS)
in the industrialized countries started 20 years ago and there are
both voluntary as well as institutional programmes (Armijo de
Vega et al., 2003). Some of the initiatives implemented to recycle
and reduce waste have been very successful. In the USA, recycling
programmes are one of the most popular measures, where 80% of
schools and universities have institutional programmes (Allen,
1999). Currently, a large number of U.S. universities have extensive
recycling and waste reduction programmes, some of them with
over a decade old (GRRN, 2016). In addition, the implementation
of waste reduction and recycling strategies in colleges and universities is mandatory in the USA (Armijo de Vega et al., 2008). These
programmes are based on previous studies about waste characterization because the knowledge of waste composition and the market for recyclable materials make them more successful than if
they are copied from other places where the conditions are different (Armijo de Vega et al., 2008).
The international studies that have been published are varied.
In Mexico, the Universidad Autnoma de Baja California (UABC)
published a report in 2003 where the authors described the necessary measures to implement a waste management plan, highlighting the need for the cooperation of all the sectors of a university to
achieve an efficient waste management plan (Armijo de Vega et al.,
2003). In 2008, pursuing this policy, they obtained a waste generation rate at the UABC of 45.60 g/user/day taking into account the
three generation sources analysed: academic and administrative
buildings (including laboratories), gardens and corridors, and the
community centre (store, dining room and cafeteria areas). The larger proportion of waste was recyclable or potentially recyclable
waste, which represent 55% in the case of buildings, 88% in the case
of gardens and 85% in the case of the community centre (Armijo de
Vega et al., 2008). The research centre Centro de Investigacin y
de Estudios Avanzados de Mrida (CINVESTAV-Mrida) of the
National Polytechnic Institute implemented a programme to minimize and recycle the waste generated at the university. This fact
allowed the University to reduce the amount of waste sent to a
landfill in 2003 by 67% as well as to yield large savings for the institution, mainly through the reduction of the costs involved in trans-

porting waste to the final disposal places (Maldonado, 2006). In

Mexico D.F., the Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO) quantified
and characterized its waste in the years 20082009 with the aim
of presenting proposals to improve waste management. The results
of their study showed a maximum generation rate of 330 g/user/day. They also noted that 52% of the waste generated is suitable for
composting, 27% is recyclable material and 21% should be sent to a
landfill (Ruiz Morales, 2012).
Furthermore, in Venezuela, in 2007 the Universidad Simn Bolvar (USB) proposed a recycling programme to allow waste reduction. They also implemented a pilot phase where some students
collected paper and cardboard separately and afterwards sold it
with the aim of increasing the number of students involved and
raising their awareness about the problem (Pellegrini Blanco and
Reyes Gil, 2009).
The University of Massey (New Zealand) described how to
implement a Zero Waste programme on the campus (Mason
et al., 2003). Subsequently, they studied the waste source separation carried out on the campus and obtained a waste generation
rate of 42 g/user/day (Mason et al., 2004).
On Prince George campus of the British Columbia University
(NBCU) in Canada, during the academic year 20072008, a study
about its waste generation and composition was carried out. The
biggest waste fraction was the paper-cardboard fraction, followed
by plastics and organic waste. Moreover, they concluded that more
than 70% of the waste could have been recycled or composted and
that the Universitys waste generation rate was 59.20 g/user/day
(Smyth et al., 2010).
During the academic year 20092010, the University of Tabriz
(Iran) studied the quantity and composition of the solid waste generated as a previous step to implementing the management strategies. From this study, they obtained a daily generation rate of
131.50 g/user/day. Organic waste represented the biggest proportion (almost 45.30%), followed by plastics and paper-cardboard
(Taghizadeh et al., 2012).
In Nigeria, the University of Covernant carried out a study in the
same way. They obtained a generation rate of 60.50 g/user/day and
observed that the biggest fraction was food waste, followed by
polyethylene bags and plastic bottles (Okeniyi and Anwan, 2012).
Spanish universities have paid more attention to the impact of
waste on the environment. The Universidad Autnoma of Barcelona and of Madrid (UAB and UAM, respectively) were pioneers
in proposing measures to reduce this impact (Pujol and Espinet,
2002). The Universidad Politcnica de Catalua (UPC) was also a
pioneer in designing a UWMS and conducted research studies
related to the waste management at the University (Tejedor,
2011). The different Spanish studies in this field, at present, are
based on surveys, interviews and/or statistical data, but none of
them show results about waste characterization.
As mentioned earlier, the first step to implement measures to
allow an efficient UWMS to be established is to know the composition, amount and distribution of the waste generated. The lack of
studies dealing with the characterization of the waste generated at
universities makes it clear that there is a need to research in this
field.
In this work, waste generation and composition at the Universitat Jaume I has been estimated throughout one academic year. For
this reason, all the waste streams generated at the University have
been identified and quantified, with emphasis given to those which
are not controlled. Furthermore, several statistical analyses have
been carried out to determine whether the season of the year or
the day of the week affect waste generation and composition. All
this information will help to establish and improve waste recycling
and recovery activities and it will allow the University authorities
to propose a set of minimization measures to enhance the current
UWMS.

A. Gallardo et al. / Waste Management 53 (2016) 311

2. Methodology
The Universitat Jaume I (UJI) is located in Castelln de la Plana,
Spain. In 2013, the University had 16,600 students enrolled and
had 1192 staff, 794 of them were professors and 398 were administrative and services staff. Professors have a double function,
teaching and research, and they carry out an important number
of research projects. In 2013, they published 573 papers in international peer reviewed journals. Part of the research is carried out in
the laboratories building. The University campus has several buildings distributed in three main zones: three Faculties and one engineering School, sports facilities, a library, the Rectorate building
(central administration offices) and the laboratories building. The
three Faculties, the engineering School and the Rectorate building
have a university canteen. There is also a commercial zone (gora),
which is open to the whole town, and which has not been taken
into account in this study (Fig. 1) because the waste is generated
by students and citizens of Castellon. The campus also has a students residence where students and visiting professors and a nursery school for children under 3 years old whose parents work or
study at the university.
The University is open all year (from Monday to Saturday)
except for the month of August, one week for the Christmas holidays and another one for the Easter holidays. The classes in the first
period, or semester, usually start around September 10th and finish on December 23rd. From January 8th to 28th students have
an examination period. The second teaching period runs from January 29th to May 30th. From July 1st to July 30th there is another
examination period. During the examination periods there are no
classes and students go to the University to prepare their examinations in the library and study areas. In July, the canteens are only
open in the morning.
The research work was carried out during the academic year
20132014. As in the research of Ruiz Morales (2012),
Taghizadeh et al. (2012), Okeniyi and Anwan (2012), Smyth et al.
(2010) and Mason et al. (2004), the study has been focused on a
single academic year. The academic year was divided into two
semesters, which coincide with the two teaching periods. The first
of them covered the autumn and winter seasons and the second
covered the spring and summer seasons. Regarding Castellon

weather, autumn and winter weather is quite similar as well as

spring and summer weather.
The study was divided into four stages: identification of waste
generation sources, estimation of the waste generation, estimation
of the waste composition, and a final stage of analysis and results.

2.1. Identification of the waste generation sources

To know the current situation of the UWMS at the UJI, all the
available written information was gathered and several interviews
were carried out with the cleaning service and waste managers. At
the UJI there is an Office of Labour Risk Prevention and Environmental Management (OPEM), which is responsible for the management of all kinds of waste. The OPEM controls and monitors the
hazardous waste (such as waste chemical products, waste of biological origin, polluted glass and plastics, batteries, electrical and
electronic waste) and non-hazardous waste collected selectively
(paper-cardboard, lightweight packaging, glass and used clothes).
Regarding waste management on the campus, there is a clear difference between hazardous and non-hazardous waste. While the
hazardous waste must be rigorously controlled (source separation,
counting of the amounts generated, contracting specialised collection companies, etc.), non-hazardous waste (similar to municipal
solid waste under the current regulations) only needs to be
deposited in bins. They will then be collected by the municipal
services.
However, based on the UWMS at the UJI, the non-hazardous
waste is separated at source into four fractions: paper-cardboard,
lightweight packaging, glass and mixed waste (MW). To collect
the first three fractions, the University has a network of selective
bins, inside and outside the buildings. The MW is made up of waste
generated in the canteens and that gathered by the cleaning services in the classrooms, offices and laboratories.
Lightweight packaging, paper-cardboard and glass fractions are
already counted because the UJI receives money depending on the
amounts of waste collected, while this is not the case of the MW.
In this first stage of the methodology, all the MW disposal
points at the UJI were identified. This was achieved by checking
all the buildings on the campus to find these points.

Fig. 1. Map of the Universitat Jaume I and sampling points.

A. Gallardo et al. / Waste Management 53 (2016) 311

2.2. Estimation of the waste generation

2.3. Estimation of the waste composition

To determine the total amounts of waste generated on the campus it is only necessary to estimate the generation of the MW, since
the other fractions are already counted, as mentioned before. The
MW is placed in bins of 1100 l and they are collected daily by
the waste manager in trucks which load is 14,000 kg. The wastes
of the UJI are included in one of the collection routes of the town.
For this reason, the wastes cannot weigh the RM of the UJI separately. Moreover, there was not available a scale to weigh the bins.
Therefore, a work plan to minimize the necessary resources (time
and people) was designed. The results obtained have an acceptable
level of error.
Because it was not possible to weigh all the MW daily, the
degree of filling of the bins was monitored. Two monitoring processes were proposed throughout the academic year, one in each
teaching period.
In order to obtain representative results, the minimum number
of days to be monitored should be calculated. The minimum sample size (or number of monitoring days) was calculated using Eq.
(1) for continuous data (Bartlett et al., 2001):

As in the generation case, to determine the waste composition it

is only necessary to characterize the MW. A work plan was
designed with the same aim as the one mentioned above. In both
teaching periods, the compositions of the waste collected by the
cleaning service and the canteen waste were determined
separately.
First, the minimum number of samples needed to obtain a representative composition in both periods must be defined. To do so,
Eq. (1) was used again (t = 1.28 and e = 10%). As there were no initial data available about waste composition (mean and S per component), a preliminary pilot study was conducted to characterize
the canteen and cleaning service waste (three samples were characterized). Subsequently, Eq. (1) was applied to the two biggest
fractions of each waste stream (cleaning service and canteen).
Table 1 shows the results obtained in this case. At least three sampling days are required for each stream to obtain representative
results of waste composition.
Finally, seven waste samples were collected in each period to be
characterized, three of them from the canteen and four from the
cleaning service. All the samples were sorted at the laboratory. In
the characterization process, 14 categories of waste were identified: plastics (PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP and PS), ferrous metals, nonferrous metals, clean and dirty paper, clean and dirty cardboard,
Tetra Brick cartons, glass, organic matter, sanitary cellulose (nappies, sanitary towels, tampons, etc.), rubber and leather, toxic
and hazardous waste, and inert waste. The samples were transported to the laboratory by a car trailer. They were weighed and
extended over the worktable. First, all the fractions were separated
and at this stage it was necessary to use protective equipment such
as lab coats, gloves and masks. Second, each fraction was weighed
and the percentage of wet fraction related to the total weight was
calculated. An identification of the plastics by polymer type was
carried out by the ASTM International Resin Identification Coding
System. However, some plastics did not have the Resin Identification Code. In such cases it was necessary to perform additional
mechanical trials to be able to identify them correctly, as (PrezBelis et al., 2013) made in their study. The organic matter included
unavoidable trimmings (fruit and vegetable peelings, etc.) and food
scraps that were left by diners. It was difficult to separate these
sub-fractions because they were completely mixed. In the cleaning
samples, fine materials were found like dust or dirt and they were
classified as inert waste. In the samples from canteen some fine
materials were also found such as small pieces of food waste which
were classified as organic matter. Composite materials were separated as far as possible. When they could not be separated, they
were sorted according to their major component.


n0

tS

eX

2
1

where n0 is the minimum number of monitoring days, t is the percentile that depends on the confidence level, S is the standard devi is the arithmetic mean of the generation and e is the
ation, X
acceptable level of error for the mean. The confidence level was
90% (a = 0.1), therefore t = 1.28. The acceptable level of error was
fixed as 10%.
If n0 was greater than 5% of the population size (N), a corrected
equation of the sample size should be used (Eq. (2)):

n0
1 nN0

As there were no data available about the mean and S, a pilot

study was carried out. In this study the bins were monitored for
an entire working week (5 days), a mean of 831.43 kg of MW per
day and an S of 206.94 kg of MW per day being obtained. With
regard to Eq. (1), the sample size obtained was at least 11 monitoring days. Taking into account that the N is 108 working days, the
length of the first teaching period in which the pilot study was carried out, the value of n0 represents 10.19% of the total. Consequently, it was necessary to use Eq. (2), which gave a value of
n = 11. For the second teaching period, with a length of 107 working days, the same procedure was used and the result was a monitoring period of 11 days.
Once the sample size had been calculated, the monitoring process was designed. This process was carried out during two and a
half weeks in the month of October (15 days), for the first teaching
period, and during one week in April and two weeks in May
(17 days) for the second teaching period. At 21:30 h, when the
cleaning service has finished, the number of bags deposited at all
the points was counted. As the cleaning and canteen staff use bags
of several different colours, this made it easier to differentiate and
to quantify the MW separately according to its source. This allowed
data about canteen waste generation and cleaning service waste
generation to be obtained.
On the first day of each period, all the bags were weighed and
the average weight per bag was determined. Consequently, on
the following days the amount of MW deposited per point was
obtained from the number of bags collected at each point.

2.4. Results and statistical analysis of the data

The weights of the waste obtained in the process of monitoring
the daily generation were registered in a database. The data were
separated depending on the period and the day of the week. From
this database the central tendency and the variability of the

Table 1
Biggest fractions and results of the sample size (n0).
Main
components

Mean (%)

Standard deviation (%)

n0

Canteen waste

Organic matter
Plastics

61.02
9.67

8.03
1.28

Cleaning waste

Dirty paper
Clean paper

43.95
12.73

5.92
1.14

A. Gallardo et al. / Waste Management 53 (2016) 311

distribution were calculated. Moreover, other statistical evidence

was calculated: counterfactual scenario (Student t-test for independent samples), with the aim of detecting whether there is
any difference for waste generation in the two periods, and a
one-way ANOVA with repeated measures to know whether the factor day of the week affects generation. From the daily generation
data and the number of users of the University, the generation rate
(GR) was calculated. The number of users was 17.792 people which
correspond to the total number of staff and students of the University in 2013. It was the same for the two periods and included
undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers, technicians, professors and administration staff.
The data obtained in the characterization process were registered in a database, separating them depending on the period
and the type of stream. The percentage in weight of each wet fraction related to the total weight was calculated. From these data,
once again, the central tendency and the variability of each waste
fraction and stream were calculated. In order to detect whether
there is any difference in the composition between the two periods, the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test was performed for each component and stream. All the statistical analyses were calculated using
the free open-source R software package.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Identification of the waste generating sources
From the information provided by the OPEM and after fieldwork
carried out on the campus, all the collection points of the University were identified and located. There are collection points inside
the buildings as well as outside the buildings. Inside the buildings
there are waste bins for the MW, and other bins for papercardboard and lightweight packaging in the hallways. Inside the
teaching staffs offices there are waste-paper baskets but also
another special little bin just for the paper. In the classrooms there
are waste-paper baskets. In the halls of every building there are
containers for used batteries, electrical and electronic waste, and
ink and toner packaging.
Outside the buildings, there are 10 points with containers for
paper-cardboard, lightweight packaging, glass and MW (Fig. 1).
These bins, with a capacity of 11003200 l, contain the bags coming from the cleaning of the University facilities (classrooms,
offices, waiting rooms, toilets, hallways, sport facilities,
laboratories-workshops and the emptying of waste-paper bins)
and the waste from the canteens.
Furthermore, there is a transfer station for the hazardous waste,
which is collected separately in all the laboratories.
3.2. Waste generation at UJI
Since 2003, the OPEM draws up a report each year where the
annual generation rate of selectively collected waste is calculated.
This rate represents the amount of waste collected selectively by
the OPEM (hazardous and non-hazardous waste) from the total
University community per year.
During 2013, 9.44 kg per user of this type of waste was collected. Taking into account that the academic year has 215 working
days (from Monday to Friday, 43 weeks), the selective waste generation rate was 43.92 g/user/working day. However, this indicator
does not reflect the total generation rate, as the MW is missing.
Regarding the MW, once the monitoring of the outdoor bins in
both teaching periods was finished, data analyses and results were
carried out. In the first period, an average amount of 474.85 kg of
canteen waste and 306.63 kg of cleaning waste were generated
per working day. The total amount of MW generated was

781.06 kg/working day with a standard deviation of 111.39 kg/working day. The average generation on Saturday was smaller,
100.89 kg with 9.19 kg/day of standard deviation. This is due to a
smaller inflow of persons on Saturdays, as there is no academic
activity. The average weight per bag was 7.29 kg for the canteen
waste and 4.29 kg for the cleaning waste, with standard deviations
of 3.23 kg and 1.89 kg respectively. Finally, the generation rate of
MW for this period was 43.90 g/user/working day.
In the second teaching period, the average waste generation per
working day was 461.57 kg for the canteen waste and 375.06 kg for
the cleaning waste. The total amount of waste was 836.63 kg of
MW with a standard deviation of 75.43 kg per working day. On
Saturdays the average generation was 256.02 kg/day with a standard deviation of 129.66 kg/day. Saturdays waste in the second
period was twice that in the previous period. The reason is that
the monitoring process was carried out near the exams period
and before examination periods there are more students at the
library and study areas on Saturday preparing their examinations.
The average weight per bag was 7.24 kg/bag in the case of the canteen waste and 4.72 kg/bag in the case of the cleaning waste, with
standard deviations of 2.66 and 2.06 kg/bag respectively. In this
second period the generation rate of MW was 47.02 g/user/working day.
In both periods, the four canteens were the greatest generation
points, where there was canteen waste as well as cleaning waste.
At the rest of the points (six altogether) there was only cleaning
waste. The average weight in both periods was very similar, which
underlines that following up the filling of the bins through the
average weight of the bags is correct.
To determine whether there was a significant difference
between the average waste generation per working day in the
two periods a contrast of hypothesis was carried out. This test
allows us to know if the differences between two samples are real
or, expressed in other terms, the differences are not a chance
occurrence and therefore they belong to different populations. It
also allows us to know the opposite effect, that is, whether the differences are so small that they are a chance occurrence and therefore both samples belong to the same population.
Firstly, the ShapiroWilk Test was used to verify the normality
of the population. The results showed that the populations in both
periods fitted a normal distribution. Afterwards, a contrast on the
variance coefficients (F-Snedecor Test) allowed us to determine
that both samples have the same variances. Finally, after applying
a t-Student test with a 95% confidence level (a = 0.05), the results
showed a statistical value t = 1.5525 and an associate
p = 0.1326, greater than a. It can therefore be assumed that there
are no differences in the generation of MW per working day
between the two teaching periods. Consequently, it can be said
that the daily average per working day is 811.03 kg with a standard
deviation of 96.18 kg and the generation rate is 45.58 g/user/working day.
To conclude, if the generation rate of the MW and the generation rate of the waste collected selectively are added together,
the total generation rate is estimated to be 89.50 g/user/working
day. Furthermore, it has not been possible to determine the rate
of generation taking into account the type of users (undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers, technicians, professors and
administration staff) because practically in every building cohabit
all kind of users. For example in the canteen teachers, students,
staff, etc. eat together. Table 2 shows the waste generation rates
calculated in other universities, the generation rate of the UJI being
the third highest. The highest rate of generation belongs to the
Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico D.F. and it is 330 g/user/working day. This rate is extremely high because it includes mixed
waste, selectively collected waste, sanitary waste, garden waste
and sludge from the water treatment plant. Furthermore, the Cove-

A. Gallardo et al. / Waste Management 53 (2016) 311

Table 2
Waste generation rates in different universities.

University

Waste generation rate

(g/user/working day)

Universidad Iberoamericanaa (Ruiz Morales, 2012)

University of Tabriz (Taghizadeh et al., 2012)
Universidad Jaume I
Covenant University (Okeniyi and Anwan, 2012)
University of Northern British Columbia
(Smyth et al., 2010)
Universidad Autnoma de Baja California
(Armijo de Vega et al., 2008)
Massey University (Mason et al., 2004)

330.00
131.50
89.50
60.50
59.20

A contrast of hypothesis has shown that the daily average generation of MW is the same from Monday to Friday and it is different on Saturdays, because when this day is compared with the
others the associated p value is less than 0.001 in all the cases.
Moreover, it was later verified with the Barlett test that the variances are homogeneous and the populations follow a normal
distribution.
3.3. Composition of the MW at UJI

45.60
42.00

Typical maximum generation rate.

nant University (Nigeria) produces similar amounts of waste to

other universities in more developed countries. This is a private
university and it was ranked as the best university in Nigeria in
2015, so their students have a high economic level comparing to
those of more developed countries. This could indicate that the
degree of development of a country does not necessarily affect
waste generation in their universities. The lowest rate of generation belongs to the Massey University in New Zealand and it is
42.00 g/user/working day. This rate is smaller than others because
it only includes wastes from canteen and its concourse area. In
addition, this University had implemented a zero waste programme. As a conclusion to this table, it is important to mention
that the results of generation and composition of waste in universities need to be put into context to be compared.
It has also been verified that the generation rate of MW and the
generation rate of the waste collected selectively are similar. This
fact shows the importance of the MW stream related to the total
waste generated at the UJI. For this reason, it would be interesting
to act on this stream to improve the waste management at this
University.
The sampling also allowed us to study the variation in generation during the week. The data extracted in both campaigns were
used to calculate the daily average (Fig. 2). To determine whether
there is a significant difference in the MW generation rate during
the six days of the week analysed, an ANOVA variance analysis of
a factor with repeated averages was carried out. This method
allows us to study whether the factor day of the week affects
the daily average generation, with a 95% level of confidence
(a = 0.05). The results achieved were F = 32.94 and an associated
p below 0.005, which imply that there are differences in the average generation on at least one day, and consequently the factor
day of the week does affect generation.

Fig. 2. Daily generation rate of MW at the UJI.

The waste composition was determined from the OPEM information and from the MW characterizations carried out in the
laboratory.
The MW was characterized in both teaching periods. The average weight of the canteen samples and the cleaning samples were
29.60 kg/sample and 10.60 kg/sample respectively. A final amount
of 177.63 kg of canteen waste was characterized (93.92 kg in the
first period and 83.72 kg in the second period). In the case of the
cleaning waste, 84.89 kg of waste were characterized (36.36 kg in
the first period and 48.53 kg in the second period).
Regarding the canteen waste, the greatest fraction was organic
matter in both periods, with an average value of 61.03% in wet
weight in the first period and 72.33% in the second period (Table 3),
the reason being that food waste is mainly generated in the canteens. These food waste contained unavoidable trimmings (fruit
and vegetable peelings, etc.), although some of them were food
scraps that were left by diners. Therefore, it would be important
to adapt food portions in order to minimize food waste generated
at canteens. The second fraction generated is dirty paper (13.99%
and 14.22% for the two periods, respectively) that comes from
tablecloths and napkins. These results are similar to those obtained
by Mason et al. (2004) and Armijo de Vega et al. (2008) in their
research for the same waste stream. Furthermore, the percentage
of glass is smaller than the percentage of plastics and metals, as
plastic packaging and beverage cans are used more often than glass
bottles in the canteens. Finally, hazardous as well as inert waste
represents the smallest fraction and the two types are collected
separately.
In the case of cleaning waste, in both periods the greatest fraction was dirty paper, with 48.36% in wet weight in the first period
and 36.60% in the second period (Table 4). These large quantities
are due to the use of paper to dry hands in the toilets. In the first
teaching period, the second biggest fraction of waste collected
was the plastic fraction (14.79%), followed by clean paper
(11.73%). Nevertheless, in the second teaching period the organic
matter fraction was the second largest fraction (23.19%). The reason for this is that in this season, spring-summer, University users
enjoy the green areas during their free and lunch time and much of
the waste generated is collected by the cleaning staff. The main
fractions of this waste stream are the same as those observed by
Armijo de Vega et al. (2008) in their study. As in the previous case,
the smallest fractions are the hazardous and inert waste.
Tables 3 and 4 show that in both streams there are variations
between periods in some fractions, while other fractions remain
constant. To verify that this is not a chance occurrence, a contrast
of hypothesis was considered, as in the generation study. The data
used to carry out the contrast of hypothesis were the generation
rates of each component in g/user/working day. In this case,
because the number of data per sample is very small, normality
cannot be assumed. Consequently, instead of using a parametric
test, such as the t-Student test, a non-parametric test was used,
although it is less robust. Therefore, to detect whether there are
differences in the waste composition in both periods, the Wilcoxon
Rank-Sum Test was used for each component and stream (canteen
and cleaning) with a 95% confidence level (a = 0.05). The contrast
statistical data and their associated p values are shown in Table 5.

A. Gallardo et al. / Waste Management 53 (2016) 311

Table 3
Average composition of the wet MW from canteens at UJI.

Plastic
Metals
Clean paper
Dirty paper
Tetra-brick
Sanitary cellulose
Rub and leather
Hazardous waste
Inert
Organic matter
Clean cardboard
Dirty cardboard
Glass

First teaching period (%)

Second teaching period (%)

Annual (%)

Average

St. deviation

Average

St. deviation

Average

St. deviation

11.61
3.69
0.94
13.99
0.77
0.06
0.14
0.07
0.00
61.03
2.90
1.70
3.10

1.30
1.12
0.34
5.44
0.73
0.10
0.10
0.06
0.00
8.03
3.80
2.11
2.74

10.08
1.57
0.20
14.22
0.08
0.03
0.04
0.00
0.00
72.33
0.47
0.68
0.30

1.51
0.31
0.35
1.00
0.08
0.06
0.05
0.00
0.00
2.71
0.62
0.91
0.51

10.84
2.63
0.57
14.11
0.43
0.05
0.09
0.04
0.00
66.68
1.68
1.19
1.70

1.51
1.38
0.51
3.50
0.60
0.07
0.09
0.06
0.00
8.19
2.78
1.55
2.34

Table 4
Average composition of the wet MW from cleaning wastes at UJI.

Plastic
Metals
Clean paper
Dirty paper
Tetra-brick
Sanitary cellulose
Rub and leather
Hazardous waste
Inert
Organic matter
Clean cardboard
Dirty cardboard
Glass

First teaching period (%)

Second teaching period (%)

Annual (%)

Average

St. deviation

Average

Average

St. deviation

Average

14.79
4.44
11.73
48.36
2.09
0.44
0.61
0.28
0.17
10.98
3.52
0.54
2.03

5.52
1.07
3.05
13.76
1.67
0.10
0.26
0.12
0.34
3.82
2.54
0.45
2.35

14.49
6.71
6.10
36.60
1.60
0.62
1.21
1.50
0.31
23.19
3.75
1.08
2.86

4.29
3.93
8.30
11.99
0.81
0.33
2.00
2.33
0.36
11.17
3.68
0.81
3.58

14.64
5.57
8.92
42.48
1.84
0.53
0.91
0.89
0.24
17.08
3.64
0.81
2.44

4.58
2.93
6.53
13.50
1.24
0.25
1.36
1.66
0.33
10.11
2.93
0.67
2.84

Table 5
Results of the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test for each fraction and waste stream.
Canteen

Plastic
Metals
Clean paper
Dirty paper
Tetrabrik
Sanitary cellulose
Rub and leather
Hazardous waste
Inert
Organic matter
Clean cardboard
Dirty cardboard
Glass

Cleaning

p-value

p-value

8.0
9.0
8.0
4.0
8.0
5.0
8.0
6.5

1.0
8.0
6.0
9.0

0.20
0.10
0.18
1.00
0.20
1.00
0.20
0.51

0.20
0.20
0.70
0.08

5.0
4.0
12.0
10.0
8.0
4.0
11.0
4.0
5.0
0.0
7.0
5.0
7.0

0.49
0.34
0.34
0.69
1.00
0.34
0.49
0.34
0.41
0.03
0.89
0.49
0.88

Regarding the canteen wastes, the associated p values of each

fraction are greater than a. Consequently, it can be assumed that
there is no difference in the composition between periods of this
stream. However, in the case of the cleaning waste, the associated
p value of organic matter fraction is smaller than a. This means that
there are significant differences between periods in terms of the
amount of organic matter generated in each one, which reinforces
the explanation given above. For other components of the cleaning
waste, their p value is greater than a, so it can be assumed that
there are no differences in the composition for these fractions
between periods. The annual average weighted composition of
both sources is shown in Tables 3 and 4
In the canteen stream, the selective fractions (paper-cardboard,
lightweight packaging and glass) account for 33.15% of the compo-

sition. If this waste had been deposited in the selective collection

bins, the amount of MW generated each working day would have
been reduced by 155.93 kg in these facilities, which means
33.53 t per year.
Additionally, if plastics and clean paper from the cleaning waste
were deposited correctly, this would mean a daily reduction of
80.25 kg (23.56%) in the MW generated in this stream, with an
annual total of 17.25 t. Moreover, by changing the method used
to dry hands to another method that does not use paper,
144.7 kg less waste would be produced daily (31.11 t per year).
Fig. 3 shows the global composition of the MW at the UJI. The
fact that, of the total MW generated annually, 58% in weight corresponds to the canteens and 42% to the cleaning service has been
taken into account. This figure also shows that 45.83% in weight
of the MW corresponds to organic matter coming mainly from
the canteens, followed by dirty paper (26.03%) used to dry hands
from the cleaning services and, finally, plastics (12.44%). The
minority fraction is formed by the inert waste. These results are
comparable to other studies, in which the greatest fractions were
also paper-cardboard and organic matter waste (Taghizadeh
et al., 2012; Smyth et al., 2010).
Overall, if all the different types of material that are collected
selectively at the UJI (plastics, paper, cardboard, metals, glass and
cartons) were deposited in their respective bins, the MW would
be reduced by 429.76 kg (52.99%) per working day, in other words,
it would be reduced by 92.39 t per year.
Finally, if the results achieved from experiments are added to
the OPEM data, the final waste composition at the UJI, depending
on the waste collected, is as shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 shows that MW represents 50.93% of the waste generated
at the UJI. Within this fraction, organic matter is the greatest

10

A. Gallardo et al. / Waste Management 53 (2016) 311

Fig. 3. Global composition of the MW at the UJI.

Fig. 4. Global waste composition at the UJI.

component, accounting for 23.34% of the total waste collected.

From the waste collected separately, the paper-cardboard fraction
represents the 27.63%, followed by the hazardous chemical and
biological waste (11.69%). Both types of waste come from the
research and teaching activities carried out at this University. Scrap
metal and batteries collected selectively are the smallest fractions.
These results are comparable to those of other studies, in which
the greatest fractions were also paper-cardboard and organic matter waste (Taghizadeh et al., 2012; Smyth et al., 2010).
4. Conclusions
This study presents a methodology to determine the waste generation and composition at a university and the appropriate statistical tools to establish the existence or not of a variation in waste

generation or composition over one academic year. The results

achieved are the first step to improving any UWMS.
The study analyses the particular case of the waste streams generated at the Universitat Jaume I, which have been identified and
quantified. The hazardous waste stream and the waste collected
selectively were already quantified. This was not the case of the
MW stream.
This study has allowed us to determine that the MW generation
does not vary between the two teaching periods analysed, the daily
average generation being 811.03 kg of waste per working day.
Moreover, it has been verified whether the day of the week affects
MW generation. The results show that this generation rate is only
different on Saturdays.
The MW generation rate is 45.58 g/user/working day. This value
must be added to the generation rate of the waste collected

A. Gallardo et al. / Waste Management 53 (2016) 311

selectively, 43.92 g/user/working day. The total generation rate is

consequently 89.50 g/user/working day. This value is one of the
largest university generation rates if it is compared to the values
from other universities.
Determining the composition of the canteen and cleaning waste
streams allowed us to gain better knowledge of the MW generated
at the UJI. Organic matter was the greatest fraction in the first case
and dirty paper was the biggest fraction in the second case. The
statistical analysis allowed us to verify that there were no differences in the waste composition of the canteen in the two periods.
However, in the case of cleaning waste, the statistical analysis
showed that there were significant differences in the amount of
organic matter generated in each period.
This research work has enabled us to determine the generation
and composition of the MW left daily at ten collection points in the
UJI. This fraction represents 50.93% of the total waste generated
and currently it is not controlled by the OPEM. Therefore, the information obtained in this work is essential to design measures to
improve the UWMS that, on the one hand, increase selective collection and, on the other, minimize the amount of waste generated.
Consequently, the measures adopted will fit the real situation at
the University. For example, some measures are needed to extract
plastics, paper, cardboard, metals, glass and cartons from the MW
stream. Those materials are currently collected selectively, but due
to different reasons they are deposited in the MW bin. If users
deposited this waste correctly, MW generation could be reduced
by 92.39 t per year. Furthermore, it would be important to study
the food portions offered in the canteen in order to take measures
to minimize the generation of processed food waste.
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