Environmental and economical evaluation of solid waste management systems applied in Antalya

Sustainable management of municipal solid waste generated from residential areas is one of the most important problems to be solved by the regional managements. In Antalya City, one of the foremost touristic centers in Turkey, this problem has not been unraveled yet. However, potential solutions have been sought progressively by applying pilot region applications.In this thesis, central municipalities with high population densities in Antalya, namely Muratpaşa and Kepez Municipalities were studied in order to evaluate the existing solid waste management systems in terms of economical and environmental factors. Different management scenarios were developed and environmental impacts of these alternatives were evaluated using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. According to the results of the study, it is found that an integrated approach including separation at the source, composting and recycling would yield the most preferred management option from economical and environmental points of view.