The solid phase decomposition during pyrolysis of municipal solid waste (MSW) and refuse-derived fuels (RDF) is modelled on particle scale accounting for heat and mass transfer. Waste pyrolysis is expressed as a linear combination of pyrolysis of its components. The novel characterization method used expresses waste composition in terms of three reference species. The selected species are a mixture of cellulose and hemicellulose, a mixture of polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate, and a mixture of polyethylene and polypropylene. The pyrolysis kinetics models for these components are taken from the literature. The fractions of the components in the mixtures are optimized to fit the model to non-isothermal mass loss curves from selected experimental reports. The particle scale model has been evaluated against experimental transient temperature profiles at the centre of a large waste pellet during pyrolysis. The model is able to predict the main trend, but shows a more fluctuating temperature curve. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.