Abstract

RAMIREZ-VARGAS, Carlos A.; PAREDES, Diego  and  GUERRERO, Jhoniers. Financial and economic sustainability of urban solid waste recovery facilities in Colombia. Ing. compet. [online]. 2014, vol.16, n.2, pp.65-77. ISSN 0123-3033.

In Colombia, less that 2% of Urban Solid Waste (USW) are treated in Solid Waste Recovery Facilities (SWRF), having in almost all cases operational losses close to 60%, leading to the closure of several plants. Based on that, this research was focused on the establishment of some minimal conditions for the sustainability of a financial-economic scenario of a SWRF in towns with less than 50,000 inhabitants, by combining System Dynamics and Structural Analysis tools. As result, it was identified that the i.) amount of potentially usable material received, ii.) incomes for material reception, and iii.) amount of recovered material for sale, become as Key of sustainability. For the simulated scenario it is concluded that with the current fee of solid waste reception, the increase of recovery efficiency and merchandising of materials, it would be necessary to receive at least 302 t/month, to reach a cost/benefit ratio equal to 0. However that value can change as a function of the regional characteristics and implemented technologies of each project, thus it is necessary the development of studies of a project in a determined location

Keywords : Causal diagram; integrated solid waste management; key variables; MICMAC; system dynamics.

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