Current trends in solid waste management in higher education institutions : the case of West Bank region, Palestine

Abstract

Higher Education Institutions in Palestine are considered to have one of the main contributors to solid waste generation according to local authorities’ annual reporting. Besides being major players in the education field, they are presented with the opportunity of being also key players in the promotion of waste minimization and awareness raising towards solid waste management strategies. In the present paper the results of an extended field research in the Palestinian Higher Education Institutions of West Bank are presented; raw data collected from two separate field researches were mathematically processed, offering interesting outputs which are appropriate for the organization of a solid waste management system in Higher Education Institutions. Currently, the Palestinian Higher Education Institutions were found as generating approximately 34 tons of solid waste per day - an average per capita generation of 0.51kg. Overall out of the ten Higher Education Institutions involved in the research only 25% are practicing waste separation at the source, 25% are implementing awareness raising programs on solid waste management and in 50% of them source separation of hazardous waste generated from laboratories etc. is performed, proving that measures need to be undertaken to improve Palestinian Higher Education Institutions environmental profile and impact.