A Decision Framework for Evaluating Management Options for Potentially Hazardous Municipal Solid Waste
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- February 28, 2019
- Creator
-
Draper, Kenyon L.
- Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
- Abstract
- Due to scarcity of pertinent data, much uncertainty is involved in determining how to best manage potentially hazardous products in the municipal wastestream. Thus, the objective has been to develop and demonstrate a formalized mechanism which communities can use to determine what types of information are most important and to explicitly include the best available information into a rational decision process. This decision framework evaluates alternatives with regard to both health risks and economics. Groundwater and air dispersion models are used to determine probability curves for the chemical and byproduct exposure ranges in groundwater, air, and food and the resulting health effects. The framework involves two phases: 1) determination of whether use of the present waste management system entails unacceptable health risks, and 2) determination of which alternative reduces the risk to acceptable levels at the lowest financial cost. To demonstrate the framework, a case study is conducted for plastics containing brominated fire retardants in the municipal wastestream of Charlotte, NC. Brominated dioxins and furans produced from the incineration of these plastics do not appear to involve unacceptable health risks for Charlotte and risk-reduction changes are unnecessary.
- Date of publication
- May 1996
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Advisor
- Kamens, R. M.
- Amaral, Deborah
- Turner, Alvis G.
- Degree
- Master of Science in Public Health
- Academic concentration
- Environmental Management and Policy
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduation year
- 1996
- Language
- Deposit record
- 56f7e058-1c97-4774-9946-7afdcd8e0e36
Relations
- Parents:
This work has no parents.