Waste management in mountain refuges - an integrated evaluation

Mountain refuges are an excellent example of public stand-alone infrastructures equipped with energy and water supply, and wastewater and waste disposal systems suited to operating under unfavourable conditions, often comprising lengthy distances for transportation or scarce resources. An international project was undertaken to evaluate the existing supply and disposal schemes at 100 mountain refuges both individually and in an integrated manner. On the basis of the results obtained guidelines to be applied in the sustainable planning, construction and operation of supply and disposal systems will be published in the near future. The present article focuses on solid waste management with an aim to the identification, quantification and critical discussion of operational issues and problems relating to waste management in mountain refuges. Transportation represents a crucial factor in terms of costs and climate relevance. The results obtained reveal how waste prevention and composting are capable of reducing waste quantities requiring transportation. However, it was also demonstrated that composting is frequently not performed in an appropriate manner and, although prohibited by law paper and cardboard are frequently burned.