Economic evaluation of alternative options for municipal solid waste management in remote locations

This paper focuses on municipal solid waste generated in remote areas and examines alternative options for its treatment. Research concentrates in small Greek islands currently depending on open dumps for waste disposal. An economic analysis of the proposed practice by the Greek government is performed to define the exact costs per ton of waste. This is then compared to the transportation of waste and recyclables in two separate streams, from small islands to existing large facilities in continental locations. This solution allows recycling, revenue from metals and potentially energy recovery, all of which help to comply with the European Union's set goals. Using geographical data in conjunction with satellite information and performing a sensitivity analysis on future fuel prices, transportation costs are calculated. A statistical analysis of population data and waste generation in the past years is used to predict the future waste generation and composition in these regions taking into account tourism effects, and thus define the required number of trips for the examined time period. It is shown that there are monetary benefits from opting sea transportation over establishing separate landfills in each island and the extent to which this practice is profitable is identified. More precisely for a typical interest rate of 9 % the proposed maritime transportation scheme gives a 29 € per ton of waste lower treatment cost. A sensitivity analysis on the interest rate verifies this advantage over the state proposed solution. Additional benefits of the proposed alternative are briefly discussed and finally, the scope for further research in the area is presented. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V