Waste Management in California

Waste Management in California

Executive Summary

To meet their needs, humans have established a complex system production and consumption, in which the supplies or materials and energy used, are con- only partially submerged. The difference between the total used and what consumers actually do is called residue. The management of this waste has become a major problem environmental facing cities as solid waste generation evolution vides together with urbanization and industrialization. For the purposes of this study, solid waste includes all waste domestic and non-hazardous wastes such as commercial and institutional waste, the garbage from the street and construction debris. This article presents a model to simulate that allows the Impact of waste Management Policies for the metropolitan region of California. The model takes into account the population, socioeconomic characteristics, recollection, processing legal and illegal plants and landfills. The simulation allows to concluded that a Including an informational campaign policy and lower the volume recycling would of waste and the cost of transport, processing and maintaining the landfills.

Table of Contents

Problem Analysis1

Program Description3

SB2202 Working Groups6

Alternative 2 vs. Alternative 310

Strategies for A Less Resource Intensive Economy14

Stakeholders18

Reason to Conduct a Program Evaluation18

Research Methodology21

Mixed Research21

Research Question21

Mixed-Method Studies22

Steps in Mixed Methodology22

Data Collection Technique22

Secondary Research23

Search Technique25

Literature Search25

Validity26

Budget for Evaluation27

Summary28

Waste Management in California

Problem Analysis

A common maxim in the environmental community is that "all things are connected." By applying this phrase to scholarly research, we can begin to understand the complexity of any topic or issue by identifying its fundamental components, and then developing systems models to depict the interactions and relationships between those parts.

For example, humans operate within very complex social systems, which contain economic and political subsystems. But this social system, and thus its subsystems, relies upon environmental systems (e.g., biological, chemical, and geological) to provide a variety of natural capital. Figure 1.1 is a diagram depicting the relationships and interdependencies between society (the focus ofthe humanities and social sciences) and the environment (the focus of the natural sciences). As the model suggests, our societies, and especially our economies, utilize the environment as a source of raw materials (i.e., inputs) and as a sink for our wastes (i.e., outputs). These input and output environments are linked by bio-geochemical cycles, and are often one and the same serving both as a source and a sink (e.g., forests, oceans, soil, the atmosphere) (Daily, 1997). The environments that provide this natural capital are also part of a larger biosphere comprised of biotic and abiotic components that function synergistically to provide our society with ecological services critical to our survival (Bhaskar, Yontcho & Stoyan, 2000).

In an effort to address concerns over wastes, natural resource use, and/or ecosystem viability, social organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) can implement policy (i.e., formulate solutions and take action) designed to stop or alter certain economic and/or social actions deemed environmentally detrimental. The people and businesses that encompass the economic subsystem can also organize politically in pursuit of certain policy objectives. Regardless of their affiliation or purpose, the more support an organization ...