Putting matter in place: tradeoffs between recycling and distance in planning for waste disposal
Problem, research strategy, and findings: Reliable information on trash disposal is crucial but becomes difficult as waste removal chains grow increasingly complex. Lack of firm data on the spatial behavior of waste hampers effective recycling strategy design. In particular, the environmental impact...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Taylor & Francis
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/101625 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0447-8573 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2026-5631 |
| _version_ | 1811091732635320320 |
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| author | Offenhuber, Dietmar Lee, David Wolf, Malima I. Phithakkitnukoon, Santi Biderman, Assaf Ratti, Carlo |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Offenhuber, Dietmar Lee, David Wolf, Malima I. Phithakkitnukoon, Santi Biderman, Assaf Ratti, Carlo |
| author_sort | Offenhuber, Dietmar |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Problem, research strategy, and findings: Reliable information on trash disposal is crucial but becomes difficult as waste removal chains grow increasingly complex. Lack of firm data on the spatial behavior of waste hampers effective recycling strategy design. In particular, the environmental impact of electronic and household hazardous waste is poorly understood. Our study investigates waste processing in an environmental, economic, and geographic context, using novel methods to track municipal solid waste in the city of Seattle (WA). We observed the movement of 2,000 discarded items using attached active GPS sensors, recording an unprecedented spatial dataset of waste trajectories. We both qualitatively identified facilities visited along each item's trajectory, then statistical modeled characteristic transportation distance and the likelihood of ending up at a specific type of facility by product categories, place of disposal, and collection mechanism. We show that a) electronic and household hazardous waste items travel significantly longer and have more arbitrary trajectories than other types of waste and b) that existing models for waste emissions may underestimate the environmental impact of transportation by not accounting for very long trajectories.
Takeaway for practice: Transportation costs and emissions may diminish the value of recycling. Collection strategies deserve closer attention given the long distances over which they operate. Electronic tracking could provide data for evaluating waste management systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:07:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/101625 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:07:10Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1016252022-10-02T00:43:19Z Putting matter in place: tradeoffs between recycling and distance in planning for waste disposal Putting Matter in Place: Measuring Tradeoffs in Waste Disposal and Recycling Offenhuber, Dietmar Lee, David Wolf, Malima I. Phithakkitnukoon, Santi Biderman, Assaf Ratti, Carlo Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Massachusetts Institute of Technology. SENSEable City Laboratory Offenhuber, Dietmar Lee, David Wolf, Malima I. Phithakkitnukoon, Santi Biderman, Assaf Ratti, Carlo Problem, research strategy, and findings: Reliable information on trash disposal is crucial but becomes difficult as waste removal chains grow increasingly complex. Lack of firm data on the spatial behavior of waste hampers effective recycling strategy design. In particular, the environmental impact of electronic and household hazardous waste is poorly understood. Our study investigates waste processing in an environmental, economic, and geographic context, using novel methods to track municipal solid waste in the city of Seattle (WA). We observed the movement of 2,000 discarded items using attached active GPS sensors, recording an unprecedented spatial dataset of waste trajectories. We both qualitatively identified facilities visited along each item's trajectory, then statistical modeled characteristic transportation distance and the likelihood of ending up at a specific type of facility by product categories, place of disposal, and collection mechanism. We show that a) electronic and household hazardous waste items travel significantly longer and have more arbitrary trajectories than other types of waste and b) that existing models for waste emissions may underestimate the environmental impact of transportation by not accounting for very long trajectories. Takeaway for practice: Transportation costs and emissions may diminish the value of recycling. Collection strategies deserve closer attention given the long distances over which they operate. Electronic tracking could provide data for evaluating waste management systems. 2016-03-08T00:47:35Z 2016-03-08T00:47:35Z 2012-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0194-4363 1939-0130 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/101625 Offenhuber, Dietmar, David Lee, Malima I. Wolf, Santi Phithakkitnukoon, Assaf Biderman, and Carlo Ratti. “Putting Matter in Place.” Journal of the American Planning Association 78, no. 2 (April 2012): 173–196. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0447-8573 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2026-5631 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2012.677120 Journal of the American Planning Association Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Taylor & Francis MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Offenhuber, Dietmar Lee, David Wolf, Malima I. Phithakkitnukoon, Santi Biderman, Assaf Ratti, Carlo Putting matter in place: tradeoffs between recycling and distance in planning for waste disposal |
| title | Putting matter in place: tradeoffs between recycling and distance in planning for waste disposal |
| title_full | Putting matter in place: tradeoffs between recycling and distance in planning for waste disposal |
| title_fullStr | Putting matter in place: tradeoffs between recycling and distance in planning for waste disposal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Putting matter in place: tradeoffs between recycling and distance in planning for waste disposal |
| title_short | Putting matter in place: tradeoffs between recycling and distance in planning for waste disposal |
| title_sort | putting matter in place tradeoffs between recycling and distance in planning for waste disposal |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/101625 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0447-8573 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2026-5631 |
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