Optimal planning for the reuse of municipal solid waste considering economic, environmental, and safety objectives

A mathematical programming model is presente for the optimal planning of the reuse of municipal solid waste (MSW) to maximize the economic benefit while simultaneously considering sustainability and safety criteria. The proposed methodology considers several phases of the supply chain including waste separation, distribution to processing facilities, processing to obtain useful products, and distribution of products to consumers. Additionally, the safety criteria are based on the potential fatalities associated with waste management. The proposed optimization model is formulated as a multiobjective optimization problem, which considers three different objectives including the maximization of the net annual profit, the maximization of the amount of reused MSW, and the minimization of the social risk associated with the supply chain. The proposed model is applied to a case study in the central-west region of Mexico. The results show the tradeoff between the social risk and the economic and environmental criteria. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1881–1899, 2015