Minimax Regret Optimization for Regionalization Assessment of Solid Waste Management in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas

摘要

With many states in the U.S. running out of landfill capacity, regionalization potential of solid waste management systems (SWM) should be assessed using systems analysis tools. The goal of this research is to improve SWM in the Lower Rio Grande Valley by performing a systems analysis leading to optimal waste management strategies with respect to the minimax regret criteria. Event-based simulation in the first stage links estimated waste streams with possible solid waste management alternatives in association with different environmental, economic, ecological, legal, and social conditions. The outputs provide a firm basis for identifying the optimal management strategies in the second stage. Optimization analyses with single or multiple objectives and a set of constraints have featured notable successes, either by public or private efforts, in diverting recyclables, green waste, yard waste, and biosolids from the municipal solid waste streams to upcoming waste-to-energy, composting, and material separation facilities. Model outputs may link prescribed scenarios in decision making with various scales of regionalization policies for short-term and long-term analyses. The insights drawn from the system-oriented, forward-looking, and preventative study can eventually help decision-makers and stakeholders gain a scientific understanding of the consequences of short-term and long-term decisions relating to sustainable SWM in the fast-growing US-Mexico borderland.