DEVELOPMENT OF A DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR THE PLANNING OF MUNICIPAL SOLID-WASTE COMPOSTING AND RECYCLING PROGRAMS

The number and complexity of mathematical models to assist municipal s olid waste management agencies in the planning of recycling programs a re increasing. A survey of practising waste management professionals h as indicated a general interest in mathematical modelling techniques t o assist with decision-making, but there is a lack of practical applic ations of these techniques, particularly within the local and regional waste management agencies that are responsible for planning and imple menting waste reduction and recycling measures. A prototype decision s upport system has been developed to assist with the preliminary planni ng of municipal solid waste composting and recycling programs and proc essing facilities. This prototype planning tool combines knowledge-bas ed system components with spreadsheet models to assist with waste fore casting, technology evaluation, composting and recycling program desig n, and preliminary processing facility planning. The system was design ed for use by local and regional solid waste management engineers and planners, and waste recycling coordinators. The prototype decision sup port system is considered to represent a reasonable, useful, and pract ical (with respect to data requirements and cost) planning tool. The k nowledge bases, created for the prototype decision support system, rep resent the collection and organization of a significant amount of curr ently available expertise regarding composting and recycling program p lanning issues.