Developing a Dynamic Model for Sustainable Management of Municipal Solid Wastes to Reduce Landfill.

Due to the issues present in the urban waste management system in the metropolis of Tehran and the inherent dynamics of the waste management system, it is necessary to use a system dynamic model to examine it. In this study, a system dynamic model was first designed and validated for optimal solid waste management in the Tehran metropolis using the landfill reduction approach based on expert judgment. The statistical population included 45 municipal waste management experts, and the opinions were gathered using a questionnaire, the validity of which was confirmed by experts and the reliability confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. Data analysis was then conducted using heuristic factor analysis and structural equation modeling through the least squares method. Based on the findings, the system dynamic model consists of six distinctive components: technological and managerial (intra-municipality), population, education level, cultivation, citizenship, and economy (external factors). The variance values for each of the above-mentioned components were 0.819, 0.574, 0.990, 1.000, 0.983, and 0.978, respectively. According to the results, these variables could explain a total of 0.683% of the variability associated with waste landfills in Tehran, indicating an appropriate model fit. Concerning the derived effect size, the technological component (F2=90.567) had the highest effect on waste landfill reduction in Tehran. All model paths had t values greater than 1.96, confirming all research hypotheses. The obtained results indicated that the developed dynamic model has a good fit and may be utilized in planning for landfill reduction in Tehran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]