Investigation of Household Hazardous Waste Production in Amirkola, Iran, in 2012-2013

Background and purpose: It is extremely important to recognize the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of this type of waste before any planning on them due to the lack of the prepared program in the field of household hazardous waste (HHW) management in the country. This research has been done in Babol, Iran, in order to achieve this important goal. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out on the basis of cluster samplingamong150families of Amirkola, Iran, to determine the per capita and percentage of different types of HHW. Training items in the form of pamphlets and special disposal bags were given to the families for being familiar with the types of waste and collection the waste, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed with the use of SPSS version19 and to signify of mean data was used with one-way analysis of variance. Results: Average production of HHW was 75.6 kg a day, which contained almost 0.3% of municipal waste. The most important types of hazardous waste, including cleaners (60%), drugs (15.5%), toxic materials and chemicals (9.5%), electronics (8%), cosmetics (6.5%), sharp objects (1%), and pesticides (0.5%). Conclusion: This study showed that a high percentage of the amount of hazardous waste was allocated to the cleaners and medicines respectively. In this respect, the families were trained in order to reduce HHW in the source, to separate and recycle them. Moreover, it is also recommended to collect, transport and dispose of in accordance with health regulations.