This study investigated the solid waste characterization of the city of Kocaeli. With this aim solid waste groups were analyzed for sub-municipalities of the city. Representative sampling points were determined in municipalities with populations over 5,000. Four different socio-economic groups (the downtown district plus low, intermediate, and high income levels) were investigated in the study. Characterization studies were performed for a 2-year period. In this context, 16 and 13 different solid waste species were categorized for winter and summer seasons, respectively.
The results of the study showed that kitchen wastes constitute the highest proportion for all socio-economic groups despite dissimilarities in waste distribution of municipalities. It was followed by combustible wastes and plastic wastes. Reducing waste components into five groups as organic wastes, recycled wastes, hazardous wastes, combustible wastes and others, an increase was seen in amounts of recycled, hazardous, and combustible wastes in winter season, whereas the amount of organic wastes decreased. Investigating general waste distribution for different income levels without any seasonal distinction, it was observed that highest values of organic and recycled wastes were seen in the downtown district and high-income groups, whereas combustible, hazardous, and other wastes were higher in low-income groups. In general, as a result of the characterization study without any seasonal and/or economical distinctions, proportions of organic, recycled, combustible, hazardous wastes, and others were determined as 41.53%, 30.51%, 20.64%, 2.12%, and 5.20%, respectively.