Comprehensive urban solid waste management plan for Esparza in Puntarenas, Costa Rica

This paper presents the results of a solid waste composition study of ordinary solid waste collected in the Municipality of Esparza. The aim of these results is to support the technical and economic feasibility to use a discriminated municipal sanitary land filling. The Esparza Municipality dumps its solid waste residues in the Zagala Dump. This is Dum is located in Puntarenas and it does not fulfill the appropriate standards these materials. By now the dump has become an environmental problem for the region. The main goal of this research is to determinate a physical composition of the ordinary solid waste in three sectors of the Esparza Municipality. The most prominent results show that 74,5 % of the materials is biodegradable by composting methods or it would be recyclable. The other 25.5 % does not have a potential as a recyclable materials, and it would be dump in a landfill. The aim of this study is to propose a plan ton handle this material and support the envioremental- oriented efforts. This plan can be used to select the organic or inorganic materials that have potential to be recycled and to define which materials have to be sent to the Municipal Landfill.