Decisional Model for Integrated Management of Municipal Solid Waste - A Case Study

In order to develop an integrated system for solid waste management, the Campania Regional Administration (Italy) has divided the region into two territorial areas. For each of these a decisional model is applied so as to define the composition and the amount of solid waste flows to be collected and diverted to the treatment plants. Six different scenarios are considered, corresponding to the successive phases of Regional Programme implementation. An optimisation algorithm for the solution of the decisional model is used to spread the waste components among the envisaged plants with or without source-separated collection, while imposing four objectives for minimum material recovery. The obtained results are discussed and compared for the assumed cases in order to arrive at the best technical and economic solution of waste management, i.e. compatible with choices made by the Regional Programme, for the different phases of the municipal solid waste management plan.