AN INDICATOR OF SOLID-WASTE GENERATION POTENTIAL FOR ILLINOIS USING PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS-ANALYSIS AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION-SYSTEMS

An indicator of solid waste generation potential (SWGP) is proposed as a versatile means to assist the development of integrated solid waste (SW) management plans. The proposed indicator is based on key socioec onomic variables for the State of Illinois which were found to be high ly correlated with variables describing the SW stream of the State. Th e proposed indicator was derived by applying the principal components analysis (PCA) technique. The technique is used to merge the rank tran sformed socioeconomic variables into a single variable, the SWGP indic ator, while maintaining the regional information of the original varia bles. An innovative aspect of this indicator approach is the use of th e ordinal scale for all these diverse variables. The validity of this approach was assessed and the proposed indicator was found to be direc tly proportional to a composite variable describing the SW stream for the State of Illinois. The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to depict the spatial distribution of the SWGP will help planners vis ualize the expected overall refuse generation pattern and to identify critical regions. In addition, the proposed indicator could be used as an instrument to validate the solid waste generation (SWG) quantities reported by counties to state agencies.