This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Zhang, X. Articles by Lin, Q. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Zhang, X. Articles by Lin, Q. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Planning of municipal solid waste management under dual uncertainties

Environmental Systems Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, University of Regina

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: huangg{at}iseis.org.

	Abstract

Municipal solid waste management is a complex and multidisciplinary problem, involving a number of impact factors associated with various uncertainties. In this study, a hybrid interval-parameter possibilistic programming (IPP) approach was developed and applied for planning municipal solid waste management under dual uncertainties. The IPP improves upon the existing management approaches by allowing possibility distributions of the lower and upper bounds of some interval parameters in the objective function and interval information in the modelling coefficients to be effectively incorporated within its optimization. By introducing the concept of possibilistic interval numbers, the dual uncertainties can be communicated into the optimization process and the resulting solutions, such that the generated decision schemes can effectively reflect the highly complex system features under uncertainty. The results of the case study indicate that useful information can be obtained for providing feasible decision schemes for waste flow allocation. Different decision schemes can be generated by adjusting waste flow allocation patterns within the solution intervals. Lower decision variable values should be used to obtain lower system cost of waste treatment and disposal under advantageous conditions, and higher decision variable values should be used under demanding conditions (worst case conditions). A strong desire to acquire the lower system cost will lead to the decreased probability of meeting the treatment and disposal requirements (i.e. the increased risk of unforeseen conditions); willingness to accept the upper limit of the system cost will guarantee that waste treatment and disposal requirements are met.

First published on October 23, 2009
Waste Management & Research 2009, doi:10.1177/0734242X09345273


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?