ABSTRACT
Background and Objective: According to the existing documents a major portion of municipal solid wastes in Iran is being land filled and small portion of this material is recycled, while the municipal waste management in developing countries has moved towards source separation and recycling. This research was conducted by the purpose of estimating Qom municipal solid waste recycling potential and cost benefits in a 20-year vision since 2006
Materials and Methods: This Research is a cross-sectional study. Firstly, according to the reports given by waste management organization in Qom city, dry solid waste recycling in 2006 and 2011 was estimated. Then two scenarios consisted of 20 and 60 percents of recycling were estimated to process the solid waste in 2011 and 2028 for enhancing recycling level, and then cost benefit of them was determined
Results: The average of produced solid waste was 718 ton per day in Qom city in 2011. Due to this producing process in 1407 we will have 1145 ton solid waste per day in this city. Daily economic benefit of dry solid waste recycling in 2011 was 15801520 Rials. If the recycling programs promotes, this benefit can be increased to 63211640 and 189664400 Rials for 20 to 60%recycling level
Conclusion: Despite of 21 % potential for dry solid waste recycling in Qom city, nowadays about 5% of this substances are recycling. By upgrading the plan for 10 to 20 years, amount of economic benefit can be increased to 4 to 12 times