Optimizing municipal solid waste recovery through density-based waste plastic segregation

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management poses significant environmental and health risks due to lack of source segregation, and reliance on landfills. To address these challenges, a prototype segregator is designed to process MSW, eliminating the need for a bio-drying process. A lab-scale density media separator (DMS) is developed for pre-experimentation and feasibility analysis of nine samples ranging from 100 to 500 g. Feasibility analysis indicates the possibility of the proposed process being implemented as a prototype and also creates the baseline considerations for designing the prototype segregator. Performance analysis of the prototype reveals the segregation of mixed MSW into plastic waste (lower specific density, larger particle size: 30–50 mm) with recovery of 81%, while Inert waste (higher specific density, smaller particle size: 5–45 mm) with recovery of 42%; and degradable waste (specific density closer to water and particle size 5–20 mm) with recovery of 78%. Furthermore, parametric optimization redefines the recovery of plastic by 78% (at 55 mm particle size, 300–400 L water), degradable by 48% (at 40 mm particle size, 250–375 L water, agitation 21.8–10.9 min). Thus the proposed system offers promising solutions to improve MSW management and alleviate environmental impact.