Open dumping and landfilling have represented the predominant method of waste management in Serbia during the past decades. This practice resulted in over 3600 waste disposal sites distributed all over the country. The locations of the sites and their characteristics have been determined in the framework of the presented study. The vast majority of disposal sites (up to 3300) are characterized by small deposition depth of waste and total waste volumes of less than 10,000 m(3). Only about 50 landfills in Serbia contain more than 100,000 m(3) of waste. These large landfills are responsible for more than 95% of the total CH(4) emissions from waste disposal, which was assessed as 60,000 tons of CH(4) in 2010. The evaluation of different measures [soil cover, compost cover and landfill gas (LFG) systems] for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from Serbian landfills indicated that enhanced microbial CH(4) oxidation (using a compost cover), as well as the installation of LFG systems, could generate net revenues as saved CH(4) emissions are creditable for the European Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme. In total between 4 and 7 million tons of CO(2) equivalent emissions could be avoided within the next 20 years by mitigating CH(4) emissions from Serbian landfills.

This study aimed to develop a methodology for fast analysis of municipal solid waste applicable in developing countries. For this purpose, a case-study of quantification and morphological municipal solid waste analysis in ten Serbian municipalities with diverse socioeconomic status was conducted from July 2008 to May 2009. The methodology was based on collating quantitative and qualitative data directly from the field and represents the first reliable information on the municipal waste characteristics at the national level. Random household solid waste samples were collected for morphological analysis, done manually, whilst for quantitative evaluation, MSW was collected and weighed over a seven-day period in three different seasons. Data analysis showed that the quantity of generated waste varies from 0.28 kg capita-1 day-1 to 1.54 kg capita-1 day-1 , following the average income of the municipality under study. By extrapolation, Serbia annually produces over two million tonnes of municipal waste. Morphological composition analysis shows that organic waste represent 49.76% of the total mass quantity. It is followed by plastics and cardboard with their sub-categories (12% and 8% respectively); glass (5.44%), paper (5.34%) etc. This methodology is applicable to any region with underdeveloped waste management systems and the results are valuable starting point for developing waste management strategies as well as for creating laws and regulations in this field.

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The problems of waste management have become increasingly complex in recent decades. The increasing amount of generated waste, adopted legislation in the field of waste management, administrative issues, economic impacts and social awareness are important drivers in achieving a sustainable waste management system. However, in practice, there are many other drivers that are often mutually in conflict. The purpose of this research is to define the precise driver and their corresponding sub-drivers, which are relevant for developing a waste management system and, on the basis of their importance, to determine which has the predominant influence on the slow development of a waste management system at the national and regional level, within the Republic of Serbia and similar countries of southeast Europe. This research presents two levels of decision making: the first is a pair-wise comparison of the drivers in relation to the goal and the second is a pair-wise comparison of the sub-drivers in relation to the driver and in relation to the goal. Results of performed analyses on the waste management drivers were integrated via the decision-making process supported by an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The final results of this research shows that the Institutional-Administrative driver is the most important for developing a sustainable waste management system.

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