Characterization of municipal solid wastes as well as projection of waste generation andrndisposal rates are needed to plan and implement disposal and recycling activities. Thernobjectives of this study were to assess and determine the composition and generation raternof household solid waste along with determination of moisture content and calorific valuernin some components of the waste stream in Hawassa town.rnSamples have been randomly selected from various households and analyzed for the solidrnwaste generation rate per capita and composition. Questionnaire survey has been carriedrnout to collect data from inhabitants including solid waste collection frequency, access torncommunal bins for primary collection, waste reuse and recycling. The householdsrnsurveyed were categorized in to low, medium and high income groups.rnResults of the survey showed that a substantial proportion consists of various putresciblernmaterials (59.7%) with ash/dust or â€œfinesâ€ forming another significant proportion (31.3%),rnpaper (2.7%), plastics(2%), miscellaneous(1.6%), textiles (1.1%), rubber (0.5%), metalsrnmostly old cans and bottle corks (0.48%) and glass (0.46%) form only minor proportionrnof the total HHSW generated. The solid waste generation rate was 0.95 kg/cap/day forrnhigh income households while for low and medium income households the rates were 0.1rnand 0.36 kg/cap/day respectively. The over all average HHSW generation rate was 0.2rnkg/cap/day and the total quantity of HHSW has been estimated as 39.7 tones per day.rnThe study also revealed that only 24 percent of households have access to regular wasterncollection services, energy recovery from the combustible fraction of the waste is feasible,rnthe non compacted HHSW density is 342.36 kg/m3 .The waste needs to be sorted at thernsource as much as possible to reduce the amount that needs disposal, markets for recycledrnmaterials needs to be encouraged, waste dumped along roads, drainage channels and openrnspaces need to be cleaned.