Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In this chapter, a multi-objective decision making (MODM) approach to sustainable
MSW management is presented, with the aim to support the decision on the optimal flows of
solid waste to be sent to landfill, recycling and to the different treatment plants. To achieve
this goal, in the proposed approach the decision makers (DM) are interactively involved in the
decision process, following the reference point methodology.
3.2. The MSW Decision Problem
Consider a decision framework in which a DM needs support in facing a MSW planning
problem. Specifically, given a MSW configuration (that is that the number and type of plants
in the MSW system is fixed a priori), the DM aims at establishing the optimal waste flows,
and the plants size. The model of such a system is similar to the one in Costi et al., [2001 and
2004], where the decisional variables also include the sizes of the plants and the flows among
them, but only a single objective, the economic cost, is taken into account. In the
municipality, the total daily MSW production can be partitioned into eleven typologies of
materials, namely, paper, plastic, plastic bags, plastic bottles, glass, organic, wood, metals,
textiles, scraps, and inert matter. The structure of the overall MSW system is depicted in
figure 3.1, where five types of plants are represented and the flows among them are indicated.
Figure 3.1. The MSW management system.
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