One row per household in the waste characterisation study of the Gulu City household solid waste study. Each household stored the waste it generated over seven consecutive days in bags provided by the study team; the bags were weighed on 1 to 3 October 2026 and the waste was sorted by hand into 16 fractions adapted from ASTM D5231. The table holds the total weights, the per capita generation rate, the bulk density measured with a 10 litre bucket and the weight of every fraction before and after the deduction of the container weight, for 95 households of which 94 are included in the averages of the study. The waste records cannot be linked to the households of guluswm_survey.

Usage

guluswm_waste

Format

A tibble with 95 rows and 55 variables

record_id: Identifier of the characterisation record: CH, a batch number and a running number, for example CH-1001-001.
enumerator: Code of the enumerator who recorded the measurement, one of the codes E1 to E5 shared with guluswm_survey.
measurement_date: Date on which the household's waste was weighed and sorted, between 1 and 3 October 2026, at the end of the storage period.
area: Study area of the household after correction by the study team: Limo, Vanguard, Highland, Kanyagoga, Pabbo Quarters or Goans Quarters.
area_recorded: Study area as recorded on the field form. The field kept the previous entry when two enumerators switched areas; the study team corrected 14 records against the enumerators' daily area logs and the field supervision records (see area).
division: Administrative division of Gulu City in which the household lives: Bardege-Layibi or Laroo-Pece.
household_form_id: Household number written on the field form and the bags, for example HH-01, used for field supervision; it restarts per enumerator and area and is not unique, record_id identifies the household.
occupants: Number of people living in the household.
people_home_daytime: Number of household members at home during the day.
days_stored: Number of days over which the household stored its waste in the bags provided: 7 for every household but one in the test run, which stored for 14 days.
person_days: Occupants multiplied by days_stored, the denominator of the per capita generation rate.
weight_recorded_kg: Total weight of the household's waste as recorded in the field, in kilograms, before the correction of keying errors.
weight_fractions_sum_kg: Sum of the weights of the 16 sorted fractions after the container deduction, in kilograms.
weight_used_kg: Total weight of the household's waste used for the generation rate, in kilograms: the recorded total, except for one keying error (CH-1001-012, grams entered as kilograms), where the sum of the sorted fractions is used.
mass_balance_diff_pct: Difference between the recorded total weight and the sum of the sorted fractions, as a percentage of the recorded total weight. Differences come from container weights, moisture loss and spillage during sorting; no record was excluded because of it.
generation_kg_cap_day: Per capita waste generation rate in kilograms per person and day: weight_used_kg divided by person_days.
generation_excl_inert_kg_cap_day: Per capita waste generation rate without the inert fines (sand, soil and stones), in kilograms per person and day: weight_used_kg minus inert_fines_kg, divided by person_days.
included_in_averages: Whether the household is included in the averages of the study: the rule of at most 2.0 kilograms per person and day was applied to every record, and only one household exceeded it (No (outlier > 2.0)).
bucket_empty_kg: Weight of the empty 10 litre bucket used to measure the bulk density, in kilograms; one bucket was used and cleaned between households.
bucket_filled_kg: Weight of the 10 litre bucket filled loosely with the household's mixed waste before sorting, in kilograms; the mean of at least three weighings.
bulk_density_kg_m3: Bulk density of the loose waste in kilograms per cubic metre: the weight of waste in the 10 litre bucket divided by its volume.
container_deduction_kg: Total weight deducted for the containers (weighing basins and bags) in which the fractions were weighed, in kilograms, summed over the fractions.
container_weight_per_fraction_kg: Container weight deducted from each fraction with a recorded weight, in kilograms. Where the raw fractions summed to more than the recorded total, the study team estimated it as the excess divided by the number of fractions weighed.
food_kitchen_kg: Weight of food and kitchen waste, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
garden_kg: Weight of garden, yard and park waste (green waste), in kilograms, after the container deduction.
wood_kg: Weight of wood and wood products, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
textiles_kg: Weight of textiles and wool, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
paper_kg: Weight of mixed paper and pulp, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
plastics_kg: Weight of mixed plastics, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
rubber_leather_kg: Weight of rubber and leather, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
glass_kg: Weight of glass, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
metals_kg: Weight of metals, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
diapers_kg: Weight of disposable diapers (recorded as Pampers), in kilograms, after the container deduction.
polyethylene_bags_kg: Weight of polyethylene bags, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
cardboard_kg: Weight of cardboard, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
ewaste_kg: Weight of electronic waste, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
aluminium_kg: Weight of aluminium, in kilograms, after the container deduction.
inert_fines_kg: Weight of inert fines (sand, soil and stones from compound sweeping, recorded as inorganic non combustible), in kilograms, after the container deduction. In Limo and Vanguard, sand and soil first entered as miscellaneous waste were moved here in the re-export of 30 October 2026.
miscellaneous_kg: Weight of miscellaneous waste (residual fine material that could not be sorted further), in kilograms, after the container deduction.
food_kitchen_raw_kg: Weight of food and kitchen waste as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
garden_raw_kg: Weight of garden, yard and park waste (green waste) as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
wood_raw_kg: Weight of wood and wood products as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
textiles_raw_kg: Weight of textiles and wool as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
paper_raw_kg: Weight of mixed paper and pulp as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
plastics_raw_kg: Weight of mixed plastics as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
rubber_leather_raw_kg: Weight of rubber and leather as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
glass_raw_kg: Weight of glass as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
metals_raw_kg: Weight of metals as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
diapers_raw_kg: Weight of disposable diapers (recorded as Pampers) as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
polyethylene_bags_raw_kg: Weight of polyethylene bags as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
cardboard_raw_kg: Weight of cardboard as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
ewaste_raw_kg: Weight of electronic waste as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
aluminium_raw_kg: Weight of aluminium as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
inert_fines_raw_kg: Weight of inert fines (sand, soil and stones, recorded as inorganic non combustible) as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.
miscellaneous_raw_kg: Weight of miscellaneous waste (residual fine material) as weighed in the field, in kilograms, before the container deduction.

Source

Field data of Ivan Feni, Abubakar Batte, James Omal and Charles B. Niwagaba (Makerere University, University of Stuttgart and Gulu City Council), measured from 1 to 3 October 2026, and shared with openwashdata as a workbook in October and November 2026. The fieldwork was funded by Integers Company Limited.

Examples

head(guluswm_waste)
#> # A tibble: 6 × 55
#>   record_id   enumerator measurement_date area  area_recorded division  
#>   <chr>       <chr>      <date>           <chr> <chr>         <chr>     
#> 1 CH-1001-001 E1         2026-10-01       Limo  Limo          Laroo-Pece
#> 2 CH-1001-002 E1         2026-10-01       Limo  Limo          Laroo-Pece
#> 3 CH-1001-003 E1         2026-10-01       Limo  Limo          Laroo-Pece
#> 4 CH-1001-004 E1         2026-10-01       Limo  Limo          Laroo-Pece
#> 5 CH-1001-005 E1         2026-10-01       Limo  Limo          Laroo-Pece
#> 6 CH-1001-006 E1         2026-10-01       Limo  Limo          Laroo-Pece
#> # ℹ 49 more variables: household_form_id <chr>, occupants <int>,
#> #   people_home_daytime <int>, days_stored <int>, person_days <int>,
#> #   weight_recorded_kg <dbl>, weight_fractions_sum_kg <dbl>,
#> #   weight_used_kg <dbl>, mass_balance_diff_pct <dbl>,
#> #   generation_kg_cap_day <dbl>, generation_excl_inert_kg_cap_day <dbl>,
#> #   included_in_averages <chr>, bucket_empty_kg <dbl>, bucket_filled_kg <dbl>,
#> #   bulk_density_kg_m3 <dbl>, container_deduction_kg <dbl>, …
# per capita generation of the 94 analysed households, kg per person and day
summary(guluswm_waste$generation_kg_cap_day[guluswm_waste$included_in_averages == "Yes"])
#>    Min. 1st Qu.  Median    Mean 3rd Qu.    Max. 
#>  0.0310  0.1532  0.2886  0.3601  0.4398  1.4357

Seven day household waste characterisation in Gulu City, Uganda, 2026

Usage

Format

Source

Examples