Analysis of morphological composition of wastes deposited on illegal dumping sites located in the area of Olsztyn district

Generated wastes require space and financial outlays on their proper storage and processing, whereas the lack of means usually leads to depositing wastes in places not meant for this purpose. Illegal dumping sites still emerge, despite introducing in Poland the obligatory (common) fee for collection and management of wastes and the obligatory establishing the Selective Waste Collection Points in each district. The aim of the work was conducting a detailed inventory of illegal dumping sites in the area of Olsztyn district (situated in the Silesia province, on the Krakow-Częstochowa Upland) and indicting the morphological composition of the wastes deposited in these places. The paper presents a detailed analysis of the morphological composition of illegal landfill sites situated in the analyzed district. The investigations located 28 illegal dumping sites, despite the fact that a Selective Municipal Waste Collection Point operates in the district area. The analysis of location, area, mass and composition of the wastes was conducted for each illegal landfill, according to the methodology developed for this purpose. Over a half of the illegal dumping sites was situated in the forest and on 4 of them the estimated mass of dumped waste exceeded 1Mg. Debris constitutes the highest proportion (21.8%) of the waste morphological composition. Recyclable wastes, i.e. glass, plastics, paper and cardboard, used electronic and electric equipment dominated in the morphological composition of wastes on small landfills, situated close to buildings (less than 250m) and had the smallest area (below 1m2 ). The share of debris and construction wastes was growing with increasing landfill area.