18-Env-A6 Solid Waste Engineering and Management · May 2013
Question 2 of 17: Non-Economic Considerations in Solid Waste Management
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
Notes on this paper
National Examination, May 2013 — 04-Env-A6 / 18-Env-A6, Solid Waste Engineering and Management. 3 hours duration, closed book, one letter-sized aid sheet permitted. All 17 questions constitute a complete paper (100 marks total).
Reference texts: Tchobanoglous, Theisen & Vigil, Integrated Solid Waste Management: Engineering Principles and Management Issues; Vesilind, Worrell & Reinhart, Solid Waste Engineering; Davis & Cornwell, Introduction to Environmental Engineering (6th ed.); CCME, Guidance Document on Landfill Gas Management.
Check: several questions on this paper (Q1, Q13, Q14, Q17) supply an incomplete data set and explicitly invite the candidate to "make and state" assumptions. Every assumed value below is called out where it is introduced and is chosen from standard solid-waste-engineering practice; the governing METHOD, not the specific assumed number, is what the exam is testing.
Question 2: Non-Economic Considerations in Solid Waste Management (3 marks)
Beyond cost, solid waste management decisions are shaped by (1) environmental and public-health protection — preventing groundwater and surface-water contamination from leachate, controlling landfill gas migration and air emissions, and limiting disease-vector habitat (rodents, insects); (2) regulatory and legal compliance — provincial Environmental Management Act permits, CCME guidelines, siting and closure/post-closure requirements that a facility must satisfy regardless of cost; and (3) social and community acceptance — traffic, odour, noise and visual impact on neighbouring land uses, and the political difficulty of siting any new disposal facility (the "NIMBY" effect), which can override an otherwise least-cost option.
