Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
12-1971
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Agricultural Economics
Major Professor
Irving Dubov
Committee Members
Joe Martin, Larry bauer, Hans Jensen
Abstract
The overall objective of this study was to estimate the direct and indirect costs associated with alternative fluid milk packaging systems in the Knoxville, Tennessee, Metropolitan area and the implications to solid waste management. Also considered were the possible effects on economic efficiency by legislated policy that would elicit changes In milk packaging systems currently used. The general procedure involved the application of an economic engineering or synthetic cost analysis. Economic-engineering models were built for a small and a large milk packaging operation in the Knoxville area. Models were synthesized for paper, glass, disposable plastic, and returnable plastic fluid milk packaging systems, a total of eight models. Economies of scale were suggested from the synthesized packaging models. The unit packaging cost for the four packaging systems ranged from 1.12 to 2.99 cents per quart equivalent for the glass and the disposable plastic-paper container line in a small plant. For the large plant unit packaging costs ranged from 0.96 to 2.49 cents per quart equivalent for the glass and the disposable plastic-paper container line. The wholesale and retail fluid milk delivery models used were essentially based upon existing research results. The estimated unit delivery costs were 3.84 and 5.87 cents per quart equivalent for disposable and returnable containers, respectively. The milk delivery task proved to be the most costly among the packaging, delivery, and container collection-disposal tasks studied. Economic-engineering models of the solid waste collection and disposal operations for six municipalities in the Knoxville Metropolitan area were synthesized. These models provided the cost data necessary to compute unit costs of the solid waste collected and disposed in the research area. A sample survey was designed and taken to augment existing solid waste data. The sampling unit was the compactor truck. Approximately 36 percent of the population was surveyed for a one week period at each of four landfill sites during October and November, 1970. The weight and volume solid waste data were standardized to a 600 pound per cubic yard density. The unit costs for solid waste collection and disposal ranged from $9.99 to $26.19 per ton and from $3.59 to $8.10 per cubic yard in the research area. Solid waste management economies of scale were suggested by the results. The weight and volume of milk containers used in the research area were computed from published sources, including census and Federal Order publications. The collection and disposal unit costs for milk containers ranged from 0.04 to 0.69 cents per quart equivalent for paper and glass, respectively. The fluid milk packaging delivery and container collection disposal costs for the four types of milk containers studied were summed. The results showed that given the current efforts by the paper, glass, and plastics industries to internalize all of their costs of production, disposable containers were least cost. Therefore, the results indicate that any effort to legislate controls of disposable milk containers could lead to economic inefficiency. Further research is needed to quantify the production costs currently shifted on to the environment by the paper, glass, and plastic milk container manufacturers.
Recommended Citation
Smolen, Gerald E., "The costs associated with milk packaging, delivery, and container disposal for four container types and the policy implications for the Knoxville, Tennessee, area. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1971.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/8003