1st International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software - Lugano, Switzerland - June 2002
Keywords
decision support systems, multiobjective decisions, optimization problems, waste treatment, environmental engineering
Start Date
1-7-2002 12:00 AM
Abstract
Nowadays, solid waste management is a problem of major relevance for all societies. Finding acceptable strategies to cope with such a problem is becoming a quite hard task, owing to the increasing awareness of environmental issues by population and authorities. In general, this awareness has led to the development of enhanced pollution control technologies and to a more rigorous legislation on waste handling and disposal, to minimize the related environmental impact. Solid waste management is a problem that is even more felt at the municipal level, where decision makers should plan an effective strategy, taking simultaneously into account conflicting objectives (e.g. economic, technical, normative, environmental). In addition, the problem is characterized by an intrinsic uncertainty of the estimates of costs and environmental impacts. These reasons have led several authors to propose multi-criteria decision approaches. In this paper, a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management system, including one separator, one plant for production of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), one incinerator with energy recovery, one plant for treatment of organic material coming out from one separator and one landfill, has been considered. Decisions concern optimal flows of solid waste to be sent to the different plants and to recycling, as well as the sizing of the different treatment plants. A multiobjective approach to support municipal decision makers in the planning of their MSW management system is described. Four main objectives have been proposed, reflecting the most important and conflicting aspects of the decision, specifically: minimizing economical costs (installation, maintenance, transport, and separate collection costs), minimizing incinerator emissions (such as SO2, HCl, HF, NOx, dust, and heavy metals emissions coming out the incinerator plants), minimizing the filling time of the sanitary landfill, and maximizing material recovery. Finally, the proposed approach is applied to a specific case study and results are reported.
A Multiobjective Approach for Solid Waste Management
Nowadays, solid waste management is a problem of major relevance for all societies. Finding acceptable strategies to cope with such a problem is becoming a quite hard task, owing to the increasing awareness of environmental issues by population and authorities. In general, this awareness has led to the development of enhanced pollution control technologies and to a more rigorous legislation on waste handling and disposal, to minimize the related environmental impact. Solid waste management is a problem that is even more felt at the municipal level, where decision makers should plan an effective strategy, taking simultaneously into account conflicting objectives (e.g. economic, technical, normative, environmental). In addition, the problem is characterized by an intrinsic uncertainty of the estimates of costs and environmental impacts. These reasons have led several authors to propose multi-criteria decision approaches. In this paper, a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management system, including one separator, one plant for production of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), one incinerator with energy recovery, one plant for treatment of organic material coming out from one separator and one landfill, has been considered. Decisions concern optimal flows of solid waste to be sent to the different plants and to recycling, as well as the sizing of the different treatment plants. A multiobjective approach to support municipal decision makers in the planning of their MSW management system is described. Four main objectives have been proposed, reflecting the most important and conflicting aspects of the decision, specifically: minimizing economical costs (installation, maintenance, transport, and separate collection costs), minimizing incinerator emissions (such as SO2, HCl, HF, NOx, dust, and heavy metals emissions coming out the incinerator plants), minimizing the filling time of the sanitary landfill, and maximizing material recovery. Finally, the proposed approach is applied to a specific case study and results are reported.
