Role of Garbage Classification in Air Pollution Improvement of a Municipal Solid Waste Disposal Base

Abstract

Assessing the impact of garbage classification on air pollution in rapidly developing economic regions is particularly necessary in light of the current policy trends. We evaluated the resulting changes in air pollution levels before and after garbage classification based on a three-year field observation using high-resolution online instruments in a municipal solid waste comprehensive disposal base. A new method is proposed to quantify the impact of major sources in a complex multi-source environment. We found that the concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ambient air decreased by 48% and 43% respectively after garbage classification, and their spike frequency was controlled at approximately 0.01. The average H2S and VOC concentrations were generally low during the daytime, but relatively high during the nighttime because of meteorology and photochemistry. The ozone formation potential of the base decreased by 56%. Alternatively, emissions from transportation and combustion sources increased, while landfill pollution decreased owing to changes in the method of waste disposal. This finding suggests that garbage classification is an effective means of improving the air quality. This new quantification method has a good potential in actual research scenarios.