Techno-economic performance indicators of municipal solid waste collection strategies

Several indicators for the evaluation of the MSW collection systems have been proposed in the literature. These evaluation tools consider only some of the aspects that influence the operational efficiency of the collection service. The aim of this paper is to suggest a set of (easy to calculate) indicators that overcomes this limitation, taking into account both the characteristics of collected waste and the operational - economic performance. The main components of the collection system (labour, vehicles and containers) are separately considered so that it is possible to quantify and compare their role within the whole process. As an example of application, the proposed approach was used for comparing the MSW collection strategies adopted in four towns in Northern Italy. Results are discussed and a comparison with alternative assessment methods available in the scientific literature is reported.