Prediction of Waste Generation and Disposal Using System Dynamics Modeling

Date

2022-01

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

Abstract

Solid waste management plays an important role in protecting the environment, the health

system and minimizing biological threats, so serious actions need to be taken to control and

manage these threats on the environment. Different situations such as seasonal changes and

cities policies have had effects on solid waste generation and disposal behaviors, therefore

the proper prediction of the amount of waste disposal is needed to improve the waste

management system. In this thesis, the system dynamics (SD) model is used to predict the

amount of waste generation and disposal in Canada. Different types of wastes are considered

in the SD model. Gross domestic product (GDP) and population are the socio-economic

variables that have a significant effect on the amount of waste generation and disposal in the

SD model. The developed model can show the relationship between variables to predict the

amount of waste generation and disposal, so by using the SD model with a better attitude,

governments and organizations can make decisions to design an appropriate model for waste

management and apply it in the system. In this thesis, the most significant contribution is

using effective variables such as GDP, population, and education to predict the amount of

waste generation and disposal seasonally and yearly. The results show that the increasing

and decreasing trends in the amount of waste disposal from the prediction value depend on

the variables in the model. Population and GDP are the main effective variables in the SD

model, in which waste disposal will increase in the future as the population increases.

Therefore, by the effect of various policies and conditions, there will be different trends in

waste management.

Description

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Science in Industrial Systems Engineering, University of Regina. x, 107 p.

Keywords

Waste generation, Waste management, System dynamics, GDP, Population, Education

Citation