Evaluation the costs of collection and transportation of Marand household wastes using WAGS software

According to studies, In many cities of Iran, more than 60 -70% of waste management costs are related to workers expenses. The aim of this study is accurately estimate and analyse of household waste collection costs in order to provide appropriate solutions to reduce this cost. Marand have 126 thousand population and 35 thousand households. Average waste produced per person per day is 900gr and around 115 ton/day waste production in this city. In order to evaluation of waste collection costs, the city information and municipal waste data were collected and calculated, then for analysis of raw data used of WAGS software. The results of data analyzing showed that household waste collection and transportation costs including workers, capital, fuel, machines maintenance and other costs evaluated 76.7,12.4, 5.4, 5.02 and 0.48 percent respectively. Also, cost of waste collection and transportation to the landfill (14 kilometers distance from city) were evaluate 38322.5 dollars per month. Cost prediction for 15 years showed that the Marand municipality must be expend 6.3 million dollars for waste collection and management. Collection cost per 1kg of waste per month calculated 0.01 dollar and per household 10.8 dollars. According to the results, it was determined that the most cost of waste management and waste collection related with workers salary. Thus The mechanization of waste collection system can be reduced through reducing the number of collection vehicles and workers. The results showed that the use of temporary waste transfer station (located at 3 km distance from the city) and the semi trailer reduces the cost up 27%. Increasing the density of the waste via recyclable waste separation at production site has a positive effect on reducing the collection cost up 19%.