DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SOLID WASTE HANDLING AT MIT ROORKEE CAMPUS

Abstract

Solid wastes, like other wastes, are produced as a result of human activities. Optimal collection and disposal of generated solid waste is the prime area of concern for the environmental professionals. Available disposal techniques like composting, land filling, incineration etc. are available and in practice world wide to handle this problem. The choice of a particular technique depends on a variety of factors but primarily on the characteristics of solid waste, economy and site-specific parameters. Decision Support System (DSS) makes the process of decision-making easier, quicker, and incorporates a variety of options to be considered, learning to optimal and feasible solution. It provides an interactive and user-friendly tool for evaluating options considering a number of potential committed. A DSS can be easily used by local solid waste planners, environmental and public interest groups and private sector to evaluate the emphasis of specific assumptions or value judgments influences the decision and finally an appropriate decision. The present study has been carried out to develop and implement a DSS for management of municipal solid waste, considering its disposal, treatment an• recycling programs. The whole work envelopes the three main features namely; available solid waste disposal options and alternatives (economic analysis of reselling, composting and land filling operation for source segregated and non-source segregated waste); development of ranking system for existing solid waste management system; and spatial modeling for siting of landfill. For the development of ranking system the spatial analytical hierarchy model has been used. The DSS has been developed in Visual Basic Environment. The developed system is implemented for the IIT Roorkee campus.