A decision support system (DSS) de
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eloped to assist the planner in decisions concerning the
o
v
erall management of solid waste at a municipal scale is described. The DSS allows to plan
the optimal number of landfills and treatment plants, and to determine the optimal quantities
and the characteristics of the refuse that has to be sent to treatment plants, to landfills and to
recycling. The application of the DSS is based on the solution of a constrained non-linear
optimization problem. Various classes of constraints ha
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e been introduced in the problem
formulation, taking into account the regulations about the minimum requirements for
recycling, incineration process requirements, sanitary landfill conser
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ation, and mass balance.
The cost function to be minimized includes recycling, transportation and maintenance costs.
The DSS has been tested on the municipality of Geno
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a, Italy, and the results obtained are
presented