Quantitative assessment of household waste disposed in floodplains of rivers from extra-Carpathian region of Neamț county, Romania

This paper aims to develop a method which estimates the amounts of household waste disposed (HWD) by rural localities in floodplains of rivers from subcarpathian sector ( Bistrița, Cracău, Ozana) and also from coridor valleys sector of Moldova and Siret rivers. This approach takes into the consideration the average distance between the outer limits of buil-up area (village) and floodplain (river) in order to calculate the specific indicators. This method is applied for 2003 and 2010 with a view to highlight the potential impact of illegal dumping on rivers sectors from extra-Carpathian region between pre-accession and post-accession periods. Poor waste management facilities from rural areas lead to this bad practice which prevailed during 2003-2009. Recent improvements in this sector, particularly after the closure of rural dumpsites (16 July 2009) will mitigate this environmental threat which it is also specific to others rural regions from Romania.