Abstract
Waste management in Romania, in particular in Cluj-Napoca city, needs major improvements. By analyzing the results and
implementation of waste composition studies which have been performed in different countries, it can be easily noticed that they
can play a very important role in the planning stage of waste management, but also in the monitoring and evaluation of the
process. Moreover, waste composition studies are an integrated part of waste management planning in developed countries.
Nevertheless, the problems identified are: (1) there are few examples of waste composition studies performed at national level
and (2) there is no mandatory methodology that guides this undertaking but there are few good practices used in the EU
countries.In this context, the paper aims to review some of the most important methodologies used in this domain and to present a
methodology for a waste characterization study, based on documented methods that can be used in the Romanian context.
Furthermore, the paper presents the results of the summer campaign of a waste composition study performed on household solid
waste generated in Cluj-Napoca by both the population, and by companies and institutions.
The documented protocol of the study has been based on the output method that implies waste sampling – in this case of humid
and also dry fraction of household waste, sorting of waste on ten categories and weighing of each category. The results of the
first campaign of the study have revealed the composition of waste generated in Cluj-Napoca during summer time, data which
can be further used in waste management planning within the area.