Solid waste management through the applications of mathematical models

Abstract

Growing world population along with fast economic growth and increased living standards have increased the municipal waste generation making its management be a foremost global issue. The problem is even more serious in urban areas as its improper management prompts tainting of soil, water, and environment which create public health risks. These problems of waste disposal and management were usually assessed by traditional methods which require loads of data. The recent development in the new software technologies and Internet along with the introduction of gradually more compact and dependable hardware products have presented the ability to accurately deal with these procedures more easily than costly and tedious field experiments. This paper presents an outline of the utilization of different scientific models in solving the environmental problems of municipal waste disposal. The examination of past literature uncovered that usually optimization models were used to find the answer of 'what is the best' under an explicit arrangement of conditions, while, simulation models were usually helpful to get an answer to 'what if? ' due to their predictive capability. An indication of the municipal waste disposal problems and its management alongside the ramifications of the investigation is provided. The rationale and backdrop of the waste disposal issues are described. The applications of optimization modeling, multi-objective approach, multi-criteria decision analysis, and artificial neural networks in waste management are presented and applications of these modeling techniques in diverse case studies worldwide are described. And finally, the conclusions of the analysis are summarized.