Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1993

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Agricultural Economics

Major Professor

William M. Park

Committee Members

Jack Barkenbus, Frank Leuthold, M.S. Younger

Abstract

The WastePlan computer software package was employed to estimate the potential cost savings from regionalization of some solid waste services in Middle Tennessee's Upper Cumberland Development District. This research project was undertaken with two objectives. The first of these was to explicitly estimate the cost savings that might result from multicounty cooperation through the establishment of regional facilities for processing of recyclables and landfill disposal. The other objective was to evaluate the WastePlan computer package itself in order to offer an assessment of its usefulness for solid waste management planning in rural areas. The required data were gathered from the Upper Cumberland Development District Needs Assessment.

Research revealed that substantial economies of size exist in the processing of recyclables and landfill disposal, and the economies of size associated with operation of these facilities outweigh the increased transportation costs that accompany a larger planning region. Compared to the case in which each of fourteen counties operated its own facilities, a scenario with only two regional facilities had 24% lower total system costs. in a scenario with only one of each of these facilities in the district, total costs were 30% less.

Although it is recognized that the cost estimates presented are not completely accurate, they do help to show that there are economies of size present in the operation of solid waste management facilities. A major reason for these imprecise estimates is the fact that this research has abstracted from the very real problem of administrative costs. These type of costs arise whenever new political jurisdictions are created (as in a solid waste planning region) and are the result of the creation of a new organization or working arrangement. Since these costs are largely nonmonetary, it is difficult to compare them to the monetary costs involved with a solid waste planning region, but it can be generalized that the presence of administrative costs would reduce the most efficient region size.

WastePlan was found to be difficult to use for this type of analysis. The precision required for the inputs into the program often made them difficult to obtain and certain omissions from the software made modelling of accurate systems difficult. The fact the WastePlan is such a comprehensive planning tool makes it flexible enough to use in many situations, but it also makes a simple analysis more cumbersome. it was concluded that the WastePlan computer package is adequate for this type of analysis, but the time and effort required to employ it would preclude its use by most non-professionals.

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