One size fits all? An assessment tool for solid waste management at local and national levels
- Department of Natural Resources and Environment Management, Graduate school of Management, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905 (Israel)
- Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Rehovot 76100 (Israel)
Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Waste management schemes are generally implemented at national or regional level. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Local conditions characteristics and constraints are often neglected. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We developed an economic model able to compare multi-level waste management options. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A detailed test case with real economic data and a best-fit scenario is described. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Most efficient schemes combine clear National directives with local level flexibility. - Abstract: As environmental awareness rises, integrated solid waste management (WM) schemes are increasingly being implemented all over the world. The different WM schemes usually address issues such as landfilling restrictions (mainly due to methane emissions and competing land use), packaging directives and compulsory recycling goals. These schemes are, in general, designed at a national or regional level, whereas local conditions and constraints are sometimes neglected. When national WM top-down policies, in addition to setting goals, also dictate the methods by which they are to be achieved, local authorities lose their freedom to optimize their operational WM schemes according to their specific characteristics. There are a myriad of implementation options at the local level, and by carrying out a bottom-up approach the overall national WM system will be optimal on economic and environmental scales. This paper presents a model for optimizing waste strategies at a local level and evaluates this effect at a national level. This is achieved by using a waste assessment model which enables us to compare both the economic viability of several WM options at the local (single municipal authority) level, and aggregated results for regional or national levels. A test case based on various WM approaches in Israel (several implementations of mixed and separated waste) shows that local characteristics significantly influence WM costs, and therefore the optimal scheme is one under which each local authority is able to implement its best-fitting mechanism, given that national guidelines are kept. The main result is that strict national/regional WM policies may be less efficient, unless some type of local flexibility is implemented. Our model is designed both for top-down and bottom-up assessment, and can be easily adapted for a wide range of WM option comparisons at different levels.
- OSTI ID:
- 22089893
- Journal Information:
- Waste Management, Vol. 32, Issue 10; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0956-053X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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