Feasibility of solid waste sorting in Soran bazaar, Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Kurdistan is one of the regions facing many environmental problems due to the lack of waste management infrastructure. The issue of solid waste sorting (SWS) for recycling can help to improve the environment. Therefore, in this article, we want to investigate the feasibility of SWS in the Soran bazaar. We prepared a list of questions and distributed it among the store owners in the center of Soran city and the results showed that the solid waste of the bazaar is composed of Paper (۲۱%), Plastic (۱۸%), Nailon (۱۶%), Metal (۱۵%), Organic waste (۱۴%), Kleenex (۱۲%) and, Glass (۴%). Also, only ۳۴% of store owners separate their waste, and the most important reasons ۶۶% of them don't separate the garbage are it takes time to separate the garbage and the lack of necessary facilities for separating the garbage. Analysis of ۹۴ responders (۸۶ men and ۶ women) showed waste sorting behavior (WSB) is not affected by age, gender, and education level. On the other hand, ۶۴% of the respondents have the desire to SWS, it can be concluded that by improving the waste management situation, including training on WSB, placing garbage separation bins in the city center, and recycling them, more people will implement WSB.