A multi-echelon supply chain model for municipal solid waste management system.

Area of Science:

• Operations Research
• Environmental Management
• Supply Chain Management

Background:

• Solid waste management faces challenges in coordinating collection, transportation, and disposal across multiple entities.
• Existing systems often lack integrated strategic planning and operational execution capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a multi-echelon multi-period solid waste management system (MSWM) integrated with supply chain principles.
• To enable joint strategic planning and operational execution among waste managers, suppliers, industries, and distributors.

Main Methods:

• Developed a multi-echelon, multi-period solid waste management system (MSWM).
• Integrated principles of multi-echelon supply chain management.
• Utilized interactive planning for transportation and inventory across waste collection, delivery, and disposal organizations.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated applicability through a case study involving three cities, one distribution, and two disposal facilities.
• Observed a consistent trend where increased significance levels led to decreased total generated waste.
• Noted a reduction in total transported waste to waste-to-energy and landfill facilities with higher significance levels.

Conclusions:

• The proposed MSWM system facilitates optimized productivity by efficiently managing inventory within operational capacities.
• The integrated approach enhances coordination among stakeholders for strategic and operational decision-making.
• The model effectively reduces waste generation and transportation volumes, contributing to more sustainable waste management practices.