Page 341 - Solid Waste Analysis and Minimization a Systems Approach

SUMMARY 319

■ Apply the environmental model to other countries’ waste generation and compare
the results to this research. This will aid in identifying global leaders in waste
reduction and environmental performance.
■ Establish a Web site to allow businesses to confidentially evaluate their solid waste
generation performance and to collect additional data.

Since this was the first comprehensive analysis and model development of solid
waste generation of U.S. companies, improvement upon the performance parameters
can be achieved by collecting and analyzing more data. The more data included in the
analysis, the more accurate the models and performance parameters will be. The busi-
ness groupings used may also be revaluated to ensure they best segment businesses
based on waste generation.
Another area of potential research involves developing a data collection information
system to record and store waste generation and recycling rates of various industries.
This information could be easily accessible to government agencies to monitor and
control solid waste generation rates. A software program could also be developed to
allow company management to easily determine waste generation control limits for
their company based on indicator variables. This program could also estimate poten-
tial economic benefits from increasing the company’s recycling level. This would
serve as both a financial and environmental incentive for businesses to reduce waste
and promote a green image. This software program would provide the first step in
measuring and comparing waste generation to aid in waste reduction. The model
developed for this research is applicable to Internet applications. This enhances the
confidentiality and ease of use aspects.
One trend observed from the models was that as landfill disposal costs increased,
annual solid waste generation decreased for manufacturing waste groups. The methods,
recycling procedures, and management tools used by companies that have lower waste
generation due to higher disposal costs could be studied to aid other companies in
solid waste reduction.
Case studies could be conducted to apply the control limits and economic benefit
analysis to various companies to rate the standards. Follow-up studies could be conducted
to examine the variance in estimated cost-benefits. Standard procedures could be devel-
oped to aid companies in reducing their annual solid waste generation and increase recy-
cling based on the models developed for this research. The case studies could serve as
guides and benchmark best practices to reduce solid waste, increase recycling, and eco-
nomically benefit the company. The cost-benefit analysis discussed in Chap. 18 serves as
a starting point to investigate these economical issues from increased recycling.

20.6 Summary

The major objective of this study was to build a model to better understand solid waste
generation of U.S. businesses and government agencies. A review of the literature
shows that predicting and evaluating solid waste generation is relevant and important