Location of recycling depots with GIS

A location-allocation model contained within a geographic information systems (GIS) software package was used to design a recycling depot scheme for a community of 22,000 people. Considered a less expensive alternative to curbside recycling, the depot scheme would receive a variety of recyclable materials from the public on a voluntary basis. Depot sites were located using a model that maximized the coverage of a depot site, with constraints based on projected "recycler behavior." Shopping centers, municipal parking lots, and roadside sites were candidate locations for recycling depots in the two modeled cases. A GIS-based approach is shown to be useful for determining the number and location of material recycling depots for use within an integrated municipal solid waste management system.