PLASTIC WASTE GENERATION AND SOURCE SEPARATION BY TERTIARY STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY ON A UNIVERSITY CAMPUS IN GHANA

Abstract

In recent years the continuous growth of the students’ population in Ghanaian universities have had its resultant effects on waste volumes and type of solid waste generated on campuses and its management. This study was conducted in one of the halls of the University for Development Studies to assess plastic waste generation, separation efficiency and the subsequent revenue that can be generated from the separated waste on the campus. Daily waste separation as well as a waste characterization study was conducted in the hall involving students for 14 days. The total amount of solid waste realized for the study period was 565.2 kg with an average daily waste generation rate of 40.37 kg and a per capita generation rate of 0.20 kg per person daily. Plastic waste accounted for about 38.35% of the total solid waste generated thus 216.73 kg. The average daily plastic waste generation rate was 15.48 kg with a daily per capita generation rate of 0.08 kg per person. However, there was no gender variation in the per capita generation of plastic waste. The various plastics waste identified were as follows: PET (6.5kg), HDPE (10.4kg), PVC (14.5kg), LDPE (40.7kg), PP (8.6kg), PS (8.3%), others (121.8kg) and uncoded plastics (16.5kg). The separation efficiency of the plastic waste was 59%. The female section of the hall had high separation efficiency for plastics materials (68%) compared to the male section (49%). The plastic waste with market values generated GH¢91.61 revenue for the study period.