DOES MUNICIPAL SOLID-WASTE COMPOSTING MAKE ECONOMIC SENSE

Currently there is widespread interest on the part of local Government s in incorporating municipal solid waste (MSW) composting into their i ntegrated solid waste management systems. However; there is little inf ormation on the costs of MSW composting and how those costs compare wi th the costs of alternative forms of waste disposal (especially tradit ional land disposal). This article begins to fill this information gap by reporting the results of a survey of 19 MSW composting facilities around the United States. Results indicate that MSW composting general ly costs around $50 per ton, and that very few facilities receive any revenues from the sale of compost to offset operating costs. Additiona l economic analysis indicates that, at present, MSW composting cannot be justified on financial grounds in most parts of the US, but may be competitive with land disposal where the cost of landfilling is high ( such as the north-east). (C) 1998 Academic Press.