GENERATION RATE AND PHYSICO CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZTION OF HOUSEHOLD SOLID WASTE IN DEDER TOWN ADMINISTRATION, EAST HARARGHE ZONE, ETHIOPIA

Household solid waste (HSW) has both direct and indirect effects on the environment and human welfare. This is mainly due to the lack of information on the generation rate and physico chemical characterize of the household solid waste property. So, this study aims to determine the generation rate and physico chemical properties of household solid waste in Deder town adminstration, East Hararghe zone, Ethiopia. In order to achieve this objective, soild waste data was collected from a total of 135 households that were selected systematically. Collection and sorting of wastes from the selected households was conducted for 7 consecutive days. Plastic bags of three color categories, yellow, black and red having the same size were supplied to the low, medium and high income group households, respectively. Solid waste generation rate of the town per capita per day at household level was 0.180 kg /capita/day. Hence, the daily, weekly, monthly and annual generation amount was 3995.82 kg/daily, 2790.74 kg/ weekly,119874.6 kg /monthly and 1438495.2 kg/ annual respectively. The average generation rates of higher income, middle income and lower income groups were 0.3 kg/cap/day, 0.14 kg/cap/day, 0.12 kg/capital/day, respectively. Food waste accounted for the largest share 27.27 % of solid waste followed by ash waste, constituted of 25.55% of the total household waste in the Deder administration. Moisture content, bulky density, pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, total nitrogen, C:N, of the household solid waste samples were 46.1%, 393.3 kg/m3, 7.87, 1.76 dS/cm, 1.32%, 0.32%, 4.12, respectively. From the result of this study it can be concluded that biodegradable solid waste consisted more share of the solid waste generated in the Deder town adminstration. Closed communal containers, road dust bin and storage container should be used to prevent both hygienic and aesthetic problems in the Deder town administration.