Antimony in municipal waste

Antimony content in municipal waste was studied. Sampled municipal waste was dried, crushed and analyzed. Antimony determinations were performed by Kjeldahl decomposition — batch, hydride generation spectrometry and neutron activation analysis. Overall content of antimony in waste was 40–50 g/t raw waste. It was estimated that 20 % of the annual production of antimony was discarded as municipal waste in Japan. Leaching of antimony from antimony-added materials may occur, because “small tips” involved considerable amounts of antimony.