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Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research Vol. 12, No. 3, 2022, 8675-8682 8675 
 

www.etasr.com Naghel et al.: Household Waste Management Challenges 

 

Household Waste Management Challenges 
The Case of M’sila, Algeria 

Mostepha Naghel 
City, Environment, Society, and Sustainable  

Development Laboratory 
University of Biskra, Algeria 

mostepha.naghel@univ-msila.dz 

Abdallah Farhi 
Design and Modeling Laboratory of Architectural  

and Urban Forms and Atmospheres 
University of Biskra, Algeria 

a.farhi@univ-biskra.dz 

Ali Redjem 
City, Environment, Society and Sustainable Development Laboratory 

University of M'sila, Algeria 
ali.redjem@univ-msila.dz  

 

Received: 16 March 2022 | Revised: 9 April 2022 | Accepted: 14 April 2022 
 

Abstract-Household waste and uncontrolled urbanization 

management are considered major problems in African 

countries. In the Hodna region, the phenomenon seems to be 

more important in urban centers because of the huge amount of 

household waste generated by domestic and commercial 
activities. In most Algerian cities, solid waste is piled up in huge 

quantities in dumps and is dumped indiscriminately in 

waterways and public spaces. Uncontrolled urbanization, 

industrial development, and the evolution of lifestyle lead to 

increased production of waste, whereas the waste management 

techniques used in urban areas should be reconsidered. From this 

perspective, this paper studies and analyses in a spatio-temporal 
approach, the practices of household waste management in the 

city of M’sila in order to evaluate the state of such management 

and identify the key elements of integrated planning of waste 
management. 

Keywords-M’sila; household waste; environment; urbanization; 

living environment 

I. INTRODUCTION  

All Algerian cities are undergoing an accelerated 
urbanization process [1]. The strong demographic growth and 
the economic, social, and political upheavals directly impact 
the constantly increasing volume of household waste produced 
daily [2]. These problems common to all the Algerian cities, 
are characterized by uncontrolled urbanization, i.e. poor 
functioning of public services following a strong urbanization 
(organized or informal) consuming space, and with the lack of 
materials and human means, this leads to difficulties of waste 
management (transport, collection, elimination) [1, 5]. The 
authorities have difficulty in containing and eliminating waste, 
as evidenced by the spectacle of garbage covering the roadsides 
and the piling up of waste in illegal dumps [4]. According to a 
survey conducted by the Ministry of Land Management and 
Environment services, more than 3000 illegal dumps have been 
identified. Waste management remains one of the weak stages 
of Algeria’s urban management and urban services [5, 6]. All 

urban actors must be involved, first the population, then the 
municipality, and finally the State to solve the waste problem. 
However, when it comes to the environment, specifically waste 
management, it is a matter of using existing management 
methods and responding to increasingly complex issues by 
constantly reinventing them. In addition, there are limitations to 
the national waste disposal policy. This policy remains 
fundamentally archaic and is characterized by the inefficiency 
of public intervention [6]. Indeed, the operational strategy of 
waste management is limited only to the collection, transport, 
and dumping. So far, this strategy lacks any complementary 
disposal and treatment structure [6]. The material and human 
resources of collection companies must be adapted to the rate 
of population growth. It is necessary to organize landfills in 
order to overcome the problem of saturation, and finally, it is 
necessary to revalorize the waste for possible reuse [7]. The 
research that has been done so far on household waste in M’sila 
remains insufficient. Generally speaking, the available 
literature on household waste focuses on the technical and 
organizational aspects of the public waste service and the 
threats posed by waste. However, there are themes in 
recovery/recycling that need to be explored in greater depth in 
order to understand better the multiple facets of waste in 
M’sila. Thus, this paper presents an inventory of waste 
management in M’sila. In particular, this study aims to 
contribute to the problem of solid waste management for better 
strategies to fight against insalubrity in urban areas [8]. 

II. WASTE DEFINITION ACCORDING TO THE ALGERIAN 
REGULATIONS 

Waste consists of three main categories [8, 14-15]: 
household and similar waste, special waste (industrial, 
agricultural, care, services, etc.), and inert waste. The definition 
of the different types of waste and treatment methods may vary 
from one country to another [8]. According to the regulations 
in force, household waste is defined by Article 2 of Decree No. 
84-378 of December 15, 1984, setting the conditions for 

Corresponding author: Mostepha Naghel 



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cleaning and removing household waste, which are domestic 
waste and assimilable by nature volume. It is in particular: 

• Industrial or collective household waste. 

• Products resulting from cleaning such as sweeping, 
sewer cleaning. 

• Bulky waste, bulky objects, scrap metal, rubble, etc. 

• Anatomical or infectious waste from hospitals, 
chemical or other care facilities. 

• Slaughterhouse waste and offal. 

• Commercial waste, packaging, and other residues 
generated by commercial activities. 

 

 
Fig. 1.  Location of the city of M’sila in its regional context. 

III. SOURCES AND METHODS 

The methodology adopted is based on literature research 
and field surveys. The documentary literature review allowed 
us to consult memoirs, books, theses, and articles in libraries 
and on the internet. It allowed us to have information 
concerning the urban dynamics and the waste management 
plan. The field observation allowed us to discover the garbage 
deposits, the state of the environment, the infrastructures, and 
the urban space’s evolution. Simple field observation indicates 
a low collection rate of 152 tons/inhabitant of solid waste 
produced in the commune of M’sila [26]. The questionnaire 
was administered on 3 samples in 3 different sectors (collective 
housing, individual housing "allotment", and traditional 
housing). In addition to the residential areas, there are also 
predominantly commercial areas. The method of the household 
waste characterization was carried out in applying the sampling 
protocol in respect of the standards NF X30-408 and NF X30-
413 relating to the characterization of waste (sampling and 
sorting). CARADEME is the new guide introduced by 
ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management 
Agency) for local campaigns of household waste 
characterization [11-13].  

A. The Study Area 

A medium-sized city, M’sila is located on the northern edge 
of the steppe of the Hodna region. It is located 250km from the 
capital Algiers, covering an area of 233km2 having 224,991 
inhabitants [27]. It is characterized by a strategic geographical 
position. Crossed by the RN40 (connecting M’sila to Batna, 
Biskra, and Setif), the RN60 (connecting M’sila to Algiers), 
and the RN45 (connecting M’sila to BordjBou-Arreridj and 
Bou-Saada), it is an ideal crossroads connecting the North of 

the country to the South and the East to the West. It is limited, 
in the North by the commune of El Ache (Wilaya of Bordj-
Bou-Arreridj), in the South by the commune of Ouled Madhi, 
in the East by the commune of Metarfa, and in the West by the 
commune of Ouled Mansour. 

B. Situation of Waste Management in Algeria 

In Algeria, waste management is carried out by public 
service, the National Program for the Integrated Management 
of Household Waste (Programme national pour la gestion 
intégrée des déchets ménagers, PROGDEM), and by the 
National Waste Agency (Agence Nationale des Déchets, 
AND) created by Executive Decree No. 02-175 of May 20, 
2002 [9]. The NGOs working in Algeria on the management of 
DSU are grouped in an association called Coordination des 
entreprises de gestion des déchets (CEGED). The public 
administration supports the CEGED’s actions, which requires 
inhabitants to join to get rid of DSU [6, 9]. Since the 
Johannesburg Summit in 2002, Algeria has intensified its 
environmental protection and sustainable development actions, 
thus giving a prominent place to social and ecological aspects 
in its choice of society model. The Algerian Government has 
implemented a National Strategy for the Environment and a 
National Action Plan for the Environment and Sustainable 
Development (Stratégie Nationale de l’Environnement et un 
Plan National d’actions pour l’environnement et le 
développement durable, PNAE-DD) which: 

• Involves all the ministries and decentralized services, local 
authorities, and civil society, whose role is to be a force for 
proposals; 

• Aims to integrate environmental sustainability into the 
country’s development strategy (to induce sustainable 
growth and reduce poverty);  

• Puts in place effective public policies to address the 
environmental externalities of growth connected to 
activities increasingly initiated by the private sector. This 
strategy, whose main objectives are: improving health and 
quality of life, conserving and improving the productivity 
of natural capital, reducing economic losses and improving 
competitiveness, and protecting the regional and global 
environment, has resulted in: the development of the 
legislative and regulatory framework, institutional capacity 
building, and the introduction of economic and financial 
instruments, and the mobilization of significant 
investments, through the start-up of the first environmental 
projects, to halt the degradation of the environment and 
even reverse certain negative trends observed. 

The law 01-19 of December 12, 2001, relating to the 
management, the control, and the elimination of waste 
constitutes in this respect the starting point and the reference of 
this new strategy. Thus, two particular programs which 
constitute the continuation of this law are carried out and have 
obtained encouraging results: 

• PROGDEM (National Program of Municipal Waste 
Management).  



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• PNAGDES (Plan National de Gestion des Déchets 
Spéciaux, National Plan for Special Waste Management). 

These programs are characterized in particular by the 
elaboration, in collaboration with the authorities and local 
communities, of master plans of integrated management and 
treatment of waste, and the realization of concrete projects and 
adapted to the local specificities, like the realization of the 
Technical Landfill Centers (Centres d’Enfouissement 
Technique, CET). 

C. Evaluation of the Household Waste Management Process 

Waste management in all its ramifications is simply a 
planned system to effectively control the generation, storage, 
collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal of waste. 
Waste management is an important element of environmental 
protection. Its purpose is to provide a hygienic, economical, 
and efficient solid waste storage, collection, transportation, 
and treatment or disposal without polluting the atmosphere, 
soil, or water. The various stages of solid waste management, 
from generation to sanitary disposal, are considered a solid 
waste chain. So, the solid waste chain is the pathway through 
the solid waste from generation to the point of final disposal 
[3, 5-6]. 

D. Current Household Waste Management in M’sila 

Municipal waste management is generally organized in 3 
sectors [8]: the public sector, which has responsibility for 
monitoring and enforcing the provisions of certain urban 
services including solid waste management, the formal private 
sector engaged in waste management, including collection and 
recycling, and the informal private sector engaged in the reuse 
of certain types of waste [10, 21, 23]. 

1) Public Sector 

a) At the National Level 
The Ministry of Land Management and Environment 

(MATE) has primary the responsibility for national 
environmental policy. It was created at the end of the 1980s 
with a name that varied over time. In the 1970s, the 
environmental task was attached to the Ministry of Hydraulics 
and then to the Secretariat of State for Forestry. The Law on 
Waste Management, Control, and Disposal provides for the 
creation of three intermediate national bodies:  

• AND was created by Executive Decree No. 02-175 of May 
20, 2002, and placed under the supervision of the MATE. It 
provides an adequate instrument to assist local authorities in 
implementing the national waste policy. 

• The National Observatory for the Environment and 
Sustainable Development (Observatoire national de 
l’environnement et du développement durable, ONEDD) 
was created on April 3, 2002. It is a public establishment of 
an industrial and commercial nature (EPIC), with legal 
personality and financial autonomy. 

• The National Conservatory for Environmental Training 
(Conservatoire national des formations à l’environnement, 
CNFE) was created in August 2002. It has the status of 
EPIC and has two main missions: the training of various 

public or private actors in the field of the environment, and 
environmental education for the public, especially schools. 

b) At the Regional Level 
At the regional level, the local public service of waste 

management is under the responsibility of: 

• The Regional Environmental Inspectorates (Inspections 
Régionales de l’Environnement) are decentralized bodies of 
the State, founded by the Decree No. 88-227 of November 
5, 1988 [29]. They were created on the power, organization, 
and functioning of the bodies of inspectors responsible for 
environmental protection. The mission of these 
inspectorates is to ensure compliance with the legislation 
and regulations in environmental protection to note and 
investigate violations in this area. At the level of the 
wilayas, the State has created decentralized services in 
charge of the environment.  

• The Wilaya Environmental Departments (Directions de 
l’Environnement de Wilaya, DEW), were created by the 
Executive Decree No. 96-60 of January 27, 1996 [30], and 
succeeded the 15 wilaya environmental inspectorates. The 
wilaya directorates have 3 main areas of activity: 
coordination, control, and information. Coordination 
requires good communication and organization between the 
bodies of the State, the wilayas, and the communes to 
establish an environmental protection program for the entire 
territory and take measures to prevent all forms of 
environmental degradation (pollution, nuisances, soil 
erosion, etc.). 

c) At the Local Level 
The local level in this study refers to two structures 

responsible for local waste services: the communes and the 
groupings of communes. Article 7 of the communal code 
provides that the commune is responsible for preserving 
hygiene and public health, particularly the evacuation and 
treatment of wastewater and household waste. 

2) Private Sector 

Private sector participation in solid waste management in 
Algeria is very limited. The 2001 law made municipal waste 
management public service available to private investment and 
concessions to promote this participation. 

3) Informal Sector 

The third sector involved in waste recovery in Algeria is the 
informal sector, which constitutes an important economic 
activity. It is relatively structured in two dimensions: the first is 
vertical from the recovery in garbage cans and landfills to the 
recycling industry, and the second is horizontal and based on 
channels by the type of recovered waste (paper, plastic, 
metals). This sector allows to:  

• valorize a large amount of waste, 

• reduce transportation and collection costs for communities,  

• provide income to many people,  

• increase the capacity of landfills, 



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• ensure the raw material for some companies, 

• situation of the pre-collection of waste. 

IV. MODE OF COLLECTION, DELIMITATION, AND WASTE 
TREATMENT 

Is provided mainly by the CET of M’sila. The management 
of household waste has two essential stages: removal and 
elimination. The removal of waste includes the pre-collection 
and the collection itself. The elimination refers to landfills and 
burials in pits. 

A. Collection and Pre-collection 

1) Pre-collection  

The concept of pre-collection implies all operations that 
precede the actual collection of waste. It aims to collect, gather, 
and store waste by the inhabitants of a dwelling, building, 
housing, or company, then deposit them in places dedicated to 
waste. In Algeria, it takes various forms according to the type 
of housing and the accessibility of the equipment: 

• The metal boxes: the pre-collection by the box is more used 
at the level of local center agglomeration (Agglomeration 
Centre Local, ACL) and secondary agglomerations 
(Agglomerations Secondaires, AS). These are metal 
caissons with a capacity of 2 to 2.7T installed in housing 
estates, districts, and in front of establishments that are 
major waste generators. The frequency of removal of these 
boxes varies between 2 to 3 times per week.  

• The hard niches: are designed in the form of a construction 
delimited by a low masonry wall surrounding a base in hard 
material. The low wall has an opening allowing the deposit 
of waste by the users and their removal by the waste 
collectors. They are generally implanted in the villages 
without any preliminary study, with no protection against 
the attraction of various animals, and without any measure 
of treatment of leachates. 

• Individual garbage cans: These are individual plastic 
garbage cans. This method of pre-collection is used more 
by the inhabitants of city centers and shopkeepers. The 
waste is put in these garbage cans, which the residents take 
back once emptied by the collection service. 

• Plastic bags: This type of pre-collection is the most 
common in the city centers and individual housing estates. 
Before the collection trucks pass by, the residents deposit 
their waste in bags or cardboard boxes in front of their 
homes or on the sidewalks of the streets, in the form of 
piles that the APC truck collects for the public dump. 

 

 
Fig. 2.  Pre-collection of waste. 

2) Collection  

The collection operation is located at the heart of the waste 
management process. It is a public order operation that falls 
within the framework of protecting the population’s health and 
ensuring a better quality of life. It consists of the collection and 
grouping of waste for transportation. At present, there are two 
methods of removal in Algeria: (1) door to door, in which the 
collection service ensures a regular passage for the waste 
evacuation, (2) involuntary contribution, in which the generator 
ensures the waste transfer towards a point of regrouping so that 
they are transported by the service in charge of the operation 
towards a place of elimination or treatment. This collection 
mode is very suitable for the selective sorting operation [31]. 

 

 
Fig. 3.  Means of transporting waste to the landfill. 

B. Waste Disposal 

In Algeria, municipal solid waste management services 
have traditionally focused on "cleaning" only, with little 
attention paid to waste disposal resources. This had significant 
negative economic, environmental, and social impacts and the 
household waste sector was experiencing difficulties in almost 
all areas. 

1) Dumping Sites 

In Algeria, the elimination of household and similar waste 
by the setting in wild dumps is the most used mode, with a rate 
of 87%. Despite an environmental policy and regulations on 
waste disposal, such waste is constantly increasing. According 
to a survey conducted by the MATE services, more than 3000 
illegal dumps have been identified in the 48 wilayas with an 
area of about 4552.5ha. An almost similar geographical 
location characterizes the majority of these dumps. 

2) Technical Landfills 

Since 2001, the Algerian government has chosen to 
eliminate urban waste by burying it in landfills and has 
launched an ambitious program of technical landfills 
throughout the country. One of the objectives of PROGDEM is 
to abandon the traditional method of waste disposal by 
landfilling [27]. 

 

 
Fig. 4.  Burial and sorting of waste at the CET of M’sila. 



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V. EVOLUTION OF THE POPULATION OF M’SILA AS A 
FACTOR GENERATING HOUSEHOLD WASTE 

Recent research has shown that the population grows by 
more than 30% annually in developing countries. This growth 
is most evident in urban areas, accompanied by increased waste 
generation [11, 24-25]. The waste problem is getting worse 
every year as the population increases. Table I shows a 
significant evolution of the amount of waste in the commune of 
M’sila. The amount of solid waste generated is equivalent to 85 
t/d [26], which requires considerable efforts from the public 
authorities. This continuous increase in quantity can be 
explained by the population growth, the lack of recycling 
infrastructure, the failing collection system, and finally, the 

change in the socio-economic behavior of households where 
the standard of living has become acceptable even though the 
purchasing power has been decreasing in recent years. This 
evolution is also very remarkable according to the urban 
structure: 

• The quantities of waste produced by collective housing are 
greater than those of individual housing. 

• The collection systems used to receive these quantities of 
waste also differ according to the types of housing (for 
collective housing: there are boxes used for 500, 600, etc. 
houses). 

TABLE I. EVOLUTION OF THE QUANTITY OF WASTE GENERATED IN M’SILA [27] 

Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 
Number of inhabitants 161647 167480 175080 183803 194735 203822 214661 216788 224991 

Quantity (t/year) 15621 18934 20688 33318 37280 46428 53274 55393 57902 
 

VI. MANAGEMENT SYSTEM-THE COLLECTION OF 
HOUSEHOLD WASTE IN M’SILA 

The management of household waste in the city is a 
complex problem that the municipality must face in order to 
better protect the environment and the public health. However, 
this management requires the participation of all the city actors 
(social, economic, administrative). The collection is one of the 
main operations of waste management and forms the 
cornerstone of the whole operation. It requires material and 
human means to evacuate the waste from the city. 

A. Sector Delimitation 

According to the various formal interviews carried out on 
several occasions with the services concerned and [31], we 
were able to know that to collect the waste of the city of M’sila, 
the technical service of the municipality has delimited 19 
sectors of intervention based on two criteria: 

• Existing material and human resources. 

• Structural roads of the city. 

B. Existing Material and Human Resources  

1) Material Resources 

The means implemented for the disposal of the city’s 
household waste are wheeled collection vehicles and fixed 
collection means (caissons). 

The wheeled collection vehicles are: 

• 19 tipper trucks, 

• 8 regular dump trucks, 

• 2 dumpers, 

• 3 agricultural tractors, 

• 2 bulls and chargers, 

• 1 amp truck. 

For the rolling collection means mobilized for this 
operation, we noted that: 

• Some non-specialized collection vehicles directly affect the 
organization of the collection. 

• There often temporary breakdowns. 

• The number of specialized collection vehicles (tippers) 
represents the 15% of the total number of vehicles in the 
municipal fleet. The breakdowns of these means are 
explained by this low percentage and the age of the existing 
vehicles (14 and 20 years). Suppose we allocate the 
vehicles according to the number of inhabitants of M’sila. 
In that case, it can be noted that each specialized vehicle for 
10,000 inhabitants is higher than the national average (1 
vehicle/7500 inhabitants), while the international average is 
1 vehicle/4000 inhabitants. 

Therefore, the fleet of vehicles of the municipality shows a 
deficit of 4 to 5 vehicles to ensure a regular and average 
organization in terms of waste collection of the city and 
following financial means 

There are two types of caissons: 
• 3.5-ton boxes, 

• 2.5-ton boxes, 

• 240L and 120L wheeled bins. 

The boxes are intended for collective housing and city 
facilities (hospitals, universities, etc.). 

2) Human Resources 

Currently, the commune of M’sila mobilizes for the 
collection of household waste of the city, a workforce of 70 
workers including: 

• 19 drivers, 

• 44 waste collectors, 

• 16 sweepers, 

• the rest are agents of different categories (office, sorting, 
press, security), 

• additional agents of private companies. 



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This workforce represents 1 employee for every 2500 
inhabitants, which is much higher than the national average of 
1 employee/1500 inhabitants, so the human resources show a 
deficit of 36 workers (waste collectors and sweepers). We note 
that the staff has no training in the field and that many waste 
collectors and sweepers are illiterate. 

VII. QUANTITY OF WASTE GENERATED IN M’SILA 

From 2011 to 2016, the amount of waste generated by the 
city has increased continuously. The annual production of the 
accumulation has increased from 33318 t/year to 57902 t/year 
[26, 27] (Table I), which is equivalent to an annual growth rate 
of 11%. If this growth rate continues, by the end of 2025, the 
quantity will reach 83795.97 t/year. The average waste quantity 
per capita ratio is 0.8kg/capita/day. This ratio is 
0.41kg/capita/day in the slum areas and 1.23kg/capita/day in 
the residential areas. The ratio for the areas is higher than the 
estimated average for the major metropolitan areas of 
developing countries. Algeria’s average annual per capita rate 
increased from 202kg in 1980 to 360kg in 2006. In urban areas, 
the ratio is 0.7kg/inhabitant/day. This correspondence of 
weight between M’sila and the rest of the country’s cities is 
mainly related to the composition, which is in the majority 
made of fermentable but also of the low rate of humidity of the 
region. Indeed, the city of M’sila is under the influence of a dry 
semi-arid climate. It receives low rainfall, which is the case for 
the whole country. The latter influences the waste and makes it 
more or less light, especially as it is composed of 74.5% of 
organic matter [26]. 

VIII. COMPOSITION OF HOUSEHOLD WASTE IN M’SILA  

The study of waste composition is an essential step for 
good management. Authors in [32, 33] cite several reasons for 
this, including the need to estimate the number of materials 
produced, identify the source of generation, facilitate the design 
of treatment equipment, define the physical, chemical, and 
thermal properties of waste, and ensure compliance with 
legislations. The waste of the city M’sila is composed of 74.5% 
of biodegradable materials, 33.1% of recyclable materials 
(paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and metals), and 17% of inert 
materials in the form of construction debris. If we proceed to a 
finer classification, we obtain 13categories in compliance with 
the NF X30-408 standards: putrescible waste (fermentable), 
plastic, metals, glass, paper, cardboard, textiles, sanitary 
textiles, combustible, composites, incombustible (inert), 
hazardous waste, fines (sand and ash). However, the content of 
waste varies according to the standard of living of the 
populations of the areas (Table II). A typological study allows 
us to classify the habitat in three categories:  

• High standard of living settlements (generally in housing 
estates) where households have substantial financial 
resources enabling them to consume manufactured goods. 
These are populations belonging to the upper socio-
professional class. A relatively high rate 76.2% of 
putrescible waste is composed essentially of organic matter 
despite the low concentration of its population. 

• Medium standing habitats where households with a medium 
standard of living reside (these are the inhabitants of 

collective housing), which partly explains the rate (75.3%) 
of putrescible waste composed essentially of organic 
matter; this is certainly due to the high concentration of 
population, translated by the important quantity of waste 
generated by the inhabitants of this sector whose collective 
housing is predominant. 

• Low standard of living habitats of economic, evolutionary, 
and spontaneous type, highly populated with very little 
infrastructure (traditional or precarious habitat). There, the 
rate of putrescible waste is 75.9%, which corresponds to the 
lifestyles and standards of living of the inhabitants. To these 
habitat zones, it is necessary to add those of the commercial 
and business centers and the industrial zones that have a 
rate of 70.8%. The rate of cardboard and paper is the 
highest (13.7%) against 5.3% in the collective habitat, 5.2% 
in the individual, and 3.6% in the precarious one, because 
of the packaging activities of consumable products. The 
waste can be grouped into 2 main categories according to 
the composition obtained: household waste produced by 
households of different types on the one hand and waste 
from industrial and commercial areas on the other. This 
differentiation of the residential regions from industrial and 
commercial sites allows better waste management planning, 
especially for a possible recycling program.  

TABLE II. PHYSICAL COMPOSITION OF HOUSEHOLD WASTE BY 
TYPE OF HABITAT AND ACTIVITY IN M’SILA IN 2016 [26] 

Materials 

Sector 8 

(CET) 

Mostly 

collective 

housing (%) 

Sector 2 

(APC) 

Mostly 

individual 

housing (%) 

Sector 4 

(CET) 

Mostly 

precarious 

housing (%) 

Sector 1 

(APC) 

Mostly 

commercial 

use (%) 

Putrescible 

waste 
76.2 75.3 75.9 70.8 

Papers 3.7 3.2 1.9 3.9 
Cardboard 1.6 2.0 1.7 9.8 

Textile 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.2 
Sanitary textile 1.5 1.2 1.2 1.3 

Plastics 6.6 8.5 6.6 6.4 
Fuels 0.8 1.3 1.4 1.1 
Glass 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.6 

Composites 0.1 0.7 1.3 0.6 
Metals 0.2 0.1 1.9 0.2 
Fuels 1.7 0.9 1.3 1.5 

Hazardous 

waste 
0.1 0.8 0.9 0.7 

Fines ≤ 20 mm 6.5 5.3 4.9 2.9 
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 

 

A. Physical Characteristics  

The physical waste composition is largely determined by 
the nature of the products, the packaging, and the consumption 
practices of the population. Knowing the waste composition is 
essential because it allows determining waste management 
methods and promoting treatment and recovery channels [13, 
23]. The sampling results (Table III) allowed us to collect 
essential information to identify the waste. This sampling 
shows that the composition of household waste is very diverse. 
The composition of household waste during the random 
sampling of the 19 sectors of M’sila and the random selection 
of the contents of the weighing of a quantity of 10kgs of each 



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sector allowed us to note that 74.8% of the waste is organic 
materials. The remaining 25.2% are distributed mainly on 
plastics, paper, and cardboard. Their percentages are higher 
than those of the metal and the glass. The share of paper and 
cardboard remains dominant due to collecting part of the waste 
from commercial activities such as packaging with household 
waste. 

B. Chemical Characteristics 

Several studies have focused on waste chemical 
characterization. Some aim to evaluate the polluting potential 
of these wastes [13] or demonstrate harmful effects on human 
health and the environment. Table IV gives examples of the 
elemental chemical composition of the waste in M’sila. Control 
of the nature and the volume of solid household waste 
produced in M’sila is necessary for better waste management. 
Also, the determination of the production of the different waste 
elements aims to facilitate the choice of the technology for the 
recovery of the pre-collected waste and support the 
development of the recovery and recycling channels. Table IV 
indicates the chemical composition of the household waste in 
M’sila. 

TABLE III. COMPOSITION OF HOUSEHOLD WASTE IN M’SILA (2011-
2016) [26] 

Category Subcategories % % 

Putrescible waste 
Food waste/Green waste 74.5 

74.8 
Other putrescible waste 0.2 

Paper 
Newspapers/Recyclable papers 1.4 

3.3 
Other 1.9 

Cardboard 

Flat cardboard packaging 0.1 
2.9 Corrugated packaging 2.2 

Other 0.6 
Textiles Textiles 0.5 0.5 

Sanitary textiles Sanitary textiles 1.3 1.6 

Plastic 

Flexible plastics 4.2 
6.3 Recyclable bottles/flasks 1.1 

Other 1.0 
Fuel Unclassified fuels 1.1 1.1 

Glass 
Recyclable glass 0.2 

0.3 
Other 0.1 

Composites 
Food cartons 0.2 

0.7 
Other 0.5 

Metals 

Ferrous metals 0.1 
0.6 Non-ferrous metals 0.2 

Other metals 0.3 
Fuel Unclassified fuels 1.8 1.8 

Hazardous waste Household hazardous waste 0.6 0.6 
Fines Fine less than 20mm 5.5 5.5 

Total 100 100 

TABLE IV. CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HOUSEHOLD WASTE 
[34] 

Features Values 

Density 0.28 
Humidity level 60% 

Carbon to nitrogen ratio 38 
Calorific value 1000kcal/g 

 

IX. CONCLUSION 

Household waste management is a daily and very concrete 
problem for which local authorities and city residents have 

often believed it to be simple and linear: collect and dump. 
Instead, it has become more complex with the demographic 
and spatial growth of cities, changes in nutrition habits, and 
new environmental challenges to the point of surprising urban 
actors. Seasonal results show that organic matter increases to 
more than 77% in summer, which is justified by the 
consumption of fruits and vegetables. In comparison, paper and 
cardboard drop to 3.5% in periods of high vacations. It can also 
be noted that the volumes of waste and the composition are not 
the same in each group of households. They depend on the 
standard of living, habits, and morals of the population to 
which we can add that the production of waste tends to increase 
with the standard of living. For example, residential areas differ 
from other areas. The current situation of household waste 
management in the city of M’sila highlights that the latter has 
difficulty in assuming the management of its waste, and this 
occurs due to the following reasons: 

• The lack of material and human resources. 

• Organizational issues. 

• The lack of training of the staff in charge of these tasks is 
also a hindrance to good management of household waste. 

• The inhabitants’ involvement is deficient due to their lack 
of awareness and information. 

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