Abstract |
The present study is an analysis of six rural county solid waste disposal systems located in the western and southern U.S. The landfill sites studied vary considerably in locale, climate, population, volume of solid waste generated, systems of disposal, and disposal costs. The solid waste disposal systems encountered in this study include one landfill equipment-sharing system, a bulk container collection/transfer station system, a system of one main landfill and smaller satellite landfills, and combination of these practices. The potential of landfill equipment-sharing systems for rural areas, in which equipment is hauled from site to site as needed to perform required landfill functions, is significant in that equipment and manpower are more fully utilized and capital is not tied up in machinery that receives only occasional use. However, for such a system to be economically feasible, travel time must be minimized and operations must be staggered to avoid overextension of the system. |