Managing Municipal Waste

Abstract

Municipal waste management problems have become more pronounced in recent years. Strategies for dealing with these problems include source reduction, recycling, landfills, and incineration. Environmentalists and solid waste managers may differ in their preferences regarding these strategies and a variety of other issues dealing with solid waste management. Opinions of environmentalists and administrators were analyzed based on a random survey of 101 members of the Florida Audubon Society and 242 members of the Government Refuse Collection and Disposal Association in Florida. Four major opinion differences were found among members of these two groups: First, environmentalists were more supportive of preventive strategies, particularly recycling, than managers; second, environmentalists were more supportive of recycling for cost avoidance reasons on three of the five measures examined; third, environmentalists were more critical of state government policy implementation than solid waste managers; and fourth, environmentalists were more supportive of private organizations' involvement in solid waste management. The implication of these results for solid waste planning and program implementation are discussed.