A methodology for designing urban solid waste collection by means of extreme generation factors: Fixed box systems (FBS)

Abstract

Economic development and that of consumer society implies large-scale production of solid waste in any determined locality. This becomes a serious environmental problem if there is no suitable infrastructure for its integral management. This paper presents a methodology for designing urban solid waste collection using fixed box systems (FBS), considering temporary variations in the amounts generated and collected. Temporary variation has been included by analysing three generation point factors: weekly extreme coefficient (WEC), daily extreme coefficient (DEC) and daily extreme coefficient of heterogeneous distribution (DECH). Such time-based consideration allows making reasonable designs which can be adjusted to maximum generation and collection rates. The proposed model considers per capita production (PCP), weekly extreme coefficient (WEC) and daily extreme coefficient of heterogeneous distribution (DECH). The proposed methodology can be used for selecting the equipment and the size of the integral management units for urban solid waste. © 2010.