Solid-Waste Management: A Test of Alternative Strategies Using Optimization Techniques

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to determine how residential solid waste has been and could be disposed of or reused in metropolitan regions. By means of optimization techniques, the authors examine the economic efficiency of landfilling, energy and materials recovery, and waste-transportation technologies at centralized and dispersed sites. The results indicate that dry-fuel technology is the most efficient system for the near future. Pyrolysis, incineration, and landfilling are less efficient systems in metropolitan regions which are running out of inexpensive landfill space. Northern New Jersey is used as a case study.