ABSTRACT
Waste management today is made difficult and costly by the increasing volumes of waste produced, by the need to control potential serious environmental and health effects of disposal, and by the increasing lack of land in metropolitan areas, partly due to public opposition to proposed sites as locally unwanted land use (LULU). Waste management, once strictly a local and private sector matter, now involves regional, state and federal authorities in a highly complex regulatory framework. The problems and constraints applying to non-hazardous solid wastes (garbage) in reducing costs of waste management, also apply, in principle, to "hazardous solid wastes" with the provision that in addition to costs also risks, that is risk related costs pertaining to externalities should be minimized. Solid waste management systems have three basic cost centers associated with collection, transfer station usage or intermediate waste processing, and ultimate disposal.
