Page 283 - Solid Waste Analysis and Minimization a Systems Approach

16

SOLID WASTE ESTIMATION

AND PREDICTION

16.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the process utilized to determine the significant variables that
influence annual solid waste quantities for the individual businesses within each of the
22 waste groups determined from the cluster analysis. The cluster analysis provided
the SIC code numbers that were grouped into the 22 waste groups. A discussion and
analysis of the results are also provided. A three-step process was utilized and it is
listed below:

1 Prepare and consolidate the waste records for the 22 selected waste groups for step-
wise regression.
2 Perform stepwise regression analysis on the 22 waste groups (using Minitab).
3 Determine the significant variables for the 22 waste groups that influence solid
waste quantities using t-tests and F-tests at the 95 percent confidence level.

The remainder of this chapter discusses an overview of the data, multivariable step-
wise regression methodology, and the findings from the analysis.

16.2 Overview of Waste Group Data

and Consolidation

The first step in the significant variable analysis was to prepare and understand the
data. The waste records for each of the 22 waste groups determined from the multi-
variate cluster analysis were consolidated and initially analyzed to determine basic
comparison statistics. Specifically, the following items were calculated for each of the
22 waste groups and are displayed in Table 16.1.

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