Economic Cost-Benefit Analysis on Urban Solid Waste Categorized Collection of China

The common disposal methods for acceptable urban solid waste (USW) in China are open dump and sanitary landfill, which will definitely bring problems like environmental pollution, resource waste and land occupation etc.. Categorized collection is one of the best way to solve the problems and also the primary prerequisite of resource utilization of the waste. The objective of this study is to carry out a survey of urban solid waste generation and composition from 2004 to 2006 in Shanghai, the most developed city of China. By applying the economic mathematic method, the USW categorized collection model is established, the cost and benefit of the mixed collection and classified collection are analyzed and evaluated. The result shows that it is feasible to collect the USW by classification, which may simplify the waste disposal procedure, improve the resource recovery rate, save social cost and achieve favorable economic returns. In a word, it is a scientific and effective method to realize the quantitative reduction and resource recovery of USW.