Research Center for Environmental Health Technology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Waste Manag Res. 2023 Feb;41(2):368-375. doi: 10.1177/0734242X221117093. Epub 2022 Aug 12.
Littered waste is one of the ubiquitous problems in urban environments. In this study, urban environmental pollution was evaluated for the first time using a new developed index. The findings indicated that cigarette butts with an average 58% are the largest share in the composition of littered waste. In addition, the numbers of littered wastes throughout the study area had a spatial variation. According to clean environment index (CEI), the entire study area was found to be in a moderate status. However, 40% of the study areas were classified in a dirty and extremely dirty status. Comparison of the studied urban land-uses showed that residential land use with CEI equal to 3.38 is interpreted in the clean status, while commercial land use with CEI equal to 15.05 can be classified in the dirty status. The application of CEI has a good capability to assess littered waste; this index can be employed to evaluate the pollution of urban sidewalks and other environments such as beaches.
垃圾乱扔是城市环境中普遍存在的问题之一。在本研究中，首次使用新开发的指数评估了城市环境污染。研究结果表明，烟头以平均 58%的比例占据了垃圾乱扔的最大份额。此外，整个研究区域的垃圾乱扔数量存在空间变化。根据清洁环境指数（CEI），整个研究区域被发现处于中等状态。然而，40%的研究区域被归类为肮脏和极肮脏的状态。对研究中的城市土地利用类型的比较表明，居民区的土地利用，其 CEI 等于 3.38，被解释为清洁状态，而商业区的土地利用，其 CEI 等于 15.05，可归类为肮脏状态。CEI 的应用具有评估垃圾乱扔的良好能力；这个指数可以用来评估城市人行道和其他环境（如海滩）的污染。
