Page 241 - Solid Waste Analysis and Minimization a Systems Approach

14

DATA COLLECTION

14.1 Introduction

A data collection procedure was established to determine the required data types and
quantities of data to collect. The data collection procedure focused on efficient and
effective gathering of the required data. This chapter provides a detailed discussion of
the data collection conducted for creating the waste generation model. The remaining
sections of this chapter discuss

■ The required data types to develop the integrated model
■ Data collection process and survey instrument
■ The data collection results and discussion
■ Existing data collection discussion

14.2 Required Data Types

To begin the data collection process, the types of data required to develop the inte-
grated environmental waste generation model were determined. Since the model
investigates the solid waste generation of individual companies and government agen-
cies, annual solid waste records of individual companies and other relevant data were
identified for collection. The dependent variable to be investigated was annual solid
waste generation of U.S. businesses and government agencies. Specifically, the follow-
ing data was collected:

■ Total annual solid waste generation (tons)
■ Major materials disposed (type and tons)
■ Major materials recycled (type and tons)

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