Physical and Mechanical Characteristics of MBT Waste in China

The mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) is a new technique used to treat the municipal solid waste (MSW) and has the advantages of significantly reducing the quantity of MSW and greatly saving the capacity of a landfill. The MBT waste has already become one of the hot global research topics in geo-environmental engineering. In the present study, the basic geotechnical parameters of MBT waste were obtained by performing several physical and mechanical tests, including the composition analysis, sieve analysis, water content test, specific gravity test, compression test, and direct shear test. The test results show that: (1) The main components of MBT waste are plastic, textile, and glass, which collectively account for 55% of the total dry mass. (2) The uniformity coefficient of MBT waste is greater than 21 and the curvature coefficient is 2.1. (3) The relationship between the void ratio and the logarithmic pressure is fitted into a linear equation and the compression index is calculated to be 0.726. (4) The strength characteristics of MBT waste conform to the Coulomb’s law, and the cohesion is 15.76 kPa, while the internal friction angle is 39.8°. The conclusions provide a reference for the prediction of reservoir capacity and the stability analysis of an MBT landfill.