Abstract

Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is an important environmental challenge and subject in urban planning. For sustainable MSWM strategies, the critical management factors to be considered include not only economic efficiency of MSW treatment but also life-cycle assessment of the environmental impact. This paper employed linear programming technique to establish optimal MSWM strategies considering economic efficiency and the air pollutant emissions during the life cycle of a MSWM system, and investigated the correlations between the economical optimization and pollutant emissions. A case study based on real-world MSW operating parameters in Taichung City is also presented. The results showed that the costs, benefits, streams of MSW, and throughputs of incinerators and landfills will be affected if pollution emission reductions are implemented in the MSWM strategies. In addition, the quantity of particulate matter is the best pollutant indicator for the MSWM system performance of emission reduction. In particular this model will assist the decision maker in drawing up a friendly MSWM strategy for Taichung City in Taiwan. Implications: Recently, life-cycle assessments of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) strategies have been given more considerations. However, what seems to be lacking is the consideration of economic factors and environmental impacts simultaneously. This work analyzed real-world data to establish optimal MSWM strategies considering economic efficiency and the air pollutant emissions during the life cycle of the MSWM system. The results indicated that the consideration of environmental impacts will affect the costs, benefits, streams of MSW, and throughputs of incinerators and landfills. This work is relevant to public discussion and may establish useful guidelines for the MSWM policies.

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Authors

Chang YJ, Chu CW, Lin MD

Institution

Department of Environmental Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Road, Taichung, Taiwan 402, Republic of China.

Source

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (1995) 62:5 2012 May pg 527-40

MeSH

Air Pollutants
Cities
Environment
Environmental Monitoring
Environmental Remediation
Incineration
Linear Models
Oxides
Particulate Matter
Recycling
Refuse Disposal
Taiwan
Waste Management

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22696803