Exploratory compositional analysis of street bin litter: Empirical study in a regional city in Belgium.

• Street bin litter has been overlooked in waste characterization studies. • Five sorting experiments were performed on street bin litter in Leuven, Belgium. • Illegal dumping accounted for 33% of street bin litter. • 19% of total mass was glass, plastic or metal; 16% paper and cardboard. • An estimated 35% of street bin litter consisted of packaging. Street bin litter (SBL) is an overlooked waste stream and its composition has barely been studied. In a first characterization attempt, five sorting experiments were performed on SBL collected in Leuven, Belgium. The waste was sampled and sorted into 8 main and 39 subfractions. The largest main fractions found were illegally dumped waste (33 ± 3%), organics (17 ± 4%) and paper and cardboard (16 ± 2%). On a functional level, the street bins were estimated to contain about 35% packaging, of which beverage and food packaging constituted 46% and 38–44%, respectively. SBL is in relative terms too small a waste stream for economically viable material recovery. However, in order to make a full transition to a circular economy and due to its high visibility, SBL cannot be neglected. Preventive measures and the full application of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes can help to achieve SBL reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]