Data on solid waste generation rates and waste composition are the basic information to plan and implement solid waste management systems. Adama town, like any developing country towns, has poor solid waste management. This is mainly because of lack of information on the generation rates of the waste. To fill the gap this survey has been conducted. The objective of the study was therefore to identify the compositions of household’s waste and analyze its generation rate; and assess solid waste management systems of the town and suggest some waste management options. The study was conducted on randomly selected 162 households, that are expected to represent all categories of income levels (low, middle and high income levels) and from all corners of the town. Daily waste from those households was separated into its components; weight and volume of each component were recorded. This has been conducted for 7 consecutive days to have better average per day domestic waste generation rate. The study showed that waste generation rate has direct relationship with family’s income level. This study finding showed that low, middle and high-income households generate 0.67kg/HH/day, 1.21kg/HH/day and 1.87kg/HH/day, respectively; and on average, a household generates 0.77kg/HH/day. Similarly a person from low, middle and high-income level generates 0.11kg/cap/day, 0.35 kg/cap/day and 0.57 kg/cap/day, respectively, and an average of 0.15kg/cap/day. Total household waste generation rate of Adama town is 35.2tones in a day. The average family size of participating households is 5.7 persons. Regarding waste compositions, there are about 13 types of waste components that are identified from household wastes. Food waste has the largest proportion both in weight and volume (47.26% by weight). Ash accounts 45.38% by weight next to food wastes in household wastes. Putrescible wastes form 60.5% of the total waste, indicating that compost formation can be one of the options to manage the waste. Particle sizes of wastes have been also assessed. More than 55% by weight of wastes has a particle size of 10 - 50mm. In addition, 37.7% is fine waste having particle size of less than 10mm. Laboratory analysis of this study indicated that food and yard wastes have high moisture contents, and most of the wastes have high calorific values; in both cases, one can conclude that material and energy recovery is feasible. In general, from the study results, large proportion of the generated wastes is either compostable or recyclable or energy can be reclaimed from it. Therefore, the municipality has to reduce a waste that goes to disposal site through composting, recycling and energy recovery techniques.