Optimization of solid waste management in rural villages of developing countries

Optimum municipal solid waste (MSW) management system is an essential aspect to be considered. Optimal MSW management system could incur high cost of investment related to its construction, operation, and maintenance. The optimal configurations of the technologies within the system are of high importance, especially in developing countries due to the limitation on financial support. There are still limited studies on the integration of the possible configurations of the selected MSW management, which are centralized, clustered, and decentralized, in addition to location planning. A cost optimization model with the consideration of location planning is developed to identify the optimal configuration of the MSW management system with technologies considered such as landfilling, composting, refuse derived fuel, and reuse and recycling. The configuration considered in the study includes a centralized system, where all waste is gathered in a specific location and treated. The second configuration is the clustered system, where zones are identified, and waste treatment center is built in each zone. Finally, the decentralized, where smaller treatment centers are built at each village. The case study took place at the Desoq District, Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt. It is inhabited with a population of about 0.5 M capita. Fifteen scenarios are generated to account for the different combination of system configurations and the type of waste treatment and disposal unit. A mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed to perform the optimization. The results showed that increasing in the type and degree of treatment increases the net profit. This means that the incorporation of sorting, recycling, composting and RDF production leads to higher profit compared to landfilling only. The centralized systems turned out to attain more net profit than decentralized and clustered systems. The optimum scenario with maximum net profit value was the centralized system with sorting, composting, waste to energy facilities, and one landfill with a net profit of 3.864 USD/t/d. The optimal location for such centralized system is identified to be located beside Desoq wastewater treatment plant and between Desoq and Sanhour cities. The same model can be applied to other rural areas in developing countries.