A Comparative Assessment of Municipal Waste Accumulation in Selected Rural Communes

Comparative analysis of the accumulation of municipal waste in two selected rural communes in the European Union showed, in a quarterly basis, substantial differences between the number of inhabitants and the amount of non-selective and selective waste collected. A significant increase in waste collected fell on the tourist and agricultural commune with a larger population. Generally, in this commune there was a four times higher amount of non-selectively collected waste in relation to separately collected ones. The occurrence of the highest values of collected waste confirmed the seasonal variability with the dominance of spring and summer. Waste accumulation rates were helpful in the analysis. One of them concerned the overall accumulation of municipal waste rate per capita per year, which showed the highest value of 40.3 kg in the commune with a smaller number of inhabitants. Analysis of another rate of plastic waste accumulation per capita per year showed the possibility of impact of the commune touristic activity on its growth. The fall in the value of the glass packaging waste accumulation rate in two communes, and the lack of accumulation of metal waste and electrical and electronic equipment waste accumulation per capita per year in one of them confirmed the limited recovery of waste with raw material features. This is also indicated by the relatively low share of 1/5 of the municipal waste separately collected “at source” over eight quarters.