The amounts of mixed municipal waste in the EU countries differ during the last decades. Waste composition is influenced especially by the recent trends in the packaging of products that are daily purchased and the attitude towards sorting of municipal solid waste. Waste composition is one of the most important factors that shape future waste management planning. The sortable waste fraction in the mixed municipal waste specifies the potential for an increase in separation efficiency. The composition of the waste can be determined via analysis, but only a limited number of such analyses can be carried out. Moreover, the respective analysis is a challenging task and presents a complex statistical problem which must reflect many aspects of human activity. Appropriate waste sampling based on spatial stratification is crucial to estimate the waste composition quality in different regions. The waste samples for analysis are defined using principles of operational research to cover the regional variability. Mathematical models are developed to identify optimum clustering of waste generation areas. The principals and practice from local investigations are used to reveal waste composition. Decisions are made as to where to sample the waste and how many representative samples are necessary to faithfully describe the waste composition in the entire area. This means that suitable division into sub-areas and optimal choice of representative sub-areas in the sense of waste composition must be made. These results are then used to design the waste treatment infrastructure. The described approach to waste composition is also shown via a micro-region-level case study.

在过去的几十年中，欧盟国家中混合的城市垃圾数量有所不同。废物的成分尤其受到日常购买产品包装的最新趋势以及对城市固体废物分类的态度的影响。废物成分是影响未来废物管理计划的最重要因素之一。混合后的城市垃圾中可分类的垃圾份额说明了分离效率提高的潜力。可以通过分析确定废物的成分，但是只能进行有限数量的此类分析。此外，相应的分析是一项艰巨的任务，并提出了一个复杂的统计问题，必须反映人类活动的许多方面。基于空间分层的适当废物采样对于估算不同区域的废物组成质量至关重要。使用运筹学的原则定义了用于分析的废物样品，以涵盖区域差异。建立了数学模型以识别废物产生区域的最佳聚类。当地调查的原理和实践被用来揭示废物的成分。决定要在哪里采样废物以及忠实描述整个区域的废物组成需要多少个代表性样本。这意味着就废物成分而言，必须进行适当的分区和代表性分区的最佳选择。然后将这些结果用于设计废物处理基础架构。