Abstract

GALLARDO, Antonio; PRADES, Míriam; BOVEA, María Dolores  and  COLOMER, Francisco. Influence of climatic and socio-economic variables in Spanish waste generation. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2012, vol.28, suppl.1, pp.9-14. ISSN 0188-4999.

This paper analyses the generation of household waste in Spanish towns and cities with more than 5000 inhabitants. Data were obtained from questionnaires sent out to 216 town councils that were selected at random and from a previous study. The total composition of the household waste and the values of the annual generation rate of the total amounts of urban waste (AGR_uw) were calculated using 53 % of the towns and cities in the sample. Additionally, variables concerning the size of the towns and cities, the climatic zones and the tourist areas were also defined in order to determine whether there were any significant differences as regards the generation of waste according to those variables. Results of comparisons revealed that the size of the town or city was the only variable that did not have an effect on the AGRuw. Linear regression models were also calculated in order to model the generation of urban wastes according to the socioeconomic variables (foreigners, unemployment and people/car) by zones. Findings showed that the model with the best fit was the one related to the touristic area.

Keywords : anual waste generation rate; linear regression; significance test.