Curbside collection of recyclables. II. Simulation and economic analysis

Curbside collection of recyclable material can be expensive because the inherent costs of curbside collection are high, but also because amounts collected per residence are small compared to the total waste stream, and extra activity may be required, such as sorting. In this paper a simulation model is used to investigate the effect of collection method and route characteristics on route time. The simulation models presented calculate set-out amount based on route characteristics, set-out rate (SOR), and participation rate (PR). Route times are estimated for various conditions: constant SOR, constant PR, and constant set-out amount. Furthermore, a method for using route time to estimate vehicle and labor needs is presented, and used to estimate economic costs for one and two-person crew collection methods for the three simulation conditions mentioned above. The two-person crew is found to cost less than the one-person crew, for most simulated conditions.     

Characterization of municipal solid waste temporary storage sites: Risks posed to surrounding areas as a consequence of fire incidents

In this study temporary storage sites of municipal solid waste were characterized based on their potential social, health and environmental impacts as a consequence of spontaneous fires, by employing Boolean as well as weighted-linear-combination approaches in connection with various fuzzy set functions of population density around the storage sites. Sweden was used as the case study and data from 105 storage sites were analysed; of these, 38 were identified to be posing high risk for downwind residing population. Furthermore, during the past 10 years, the fire frequency and the average population residing within a radius of 1, 2, and 3 km were found to be comparatively higher for storage sites owned by private companies than for those owned by municipalities. The study provided first-cut information of poorly sited temporary storage sites and can help in formalizing the comprehensive risk analysis in the future.