The Optimal Location of Two Recycling Centers

Abstract

Suppose a municipality optimally locates two recycling/sorting centers to minimize the sum of the transportation costs from 1) households to the recycling centers and 2) recycling centers to the landfill. Assume that all household waste is taken to a recycling center, sorted, and the non-recyclables are subsequently transported to the landfill. The landfill location and the proportion of waste recycled are exogenous. The paper shows that the location of the recycling centers is chosen to equalize the marginal costs of the two transportation stages, unless an endpoint condition obtains, in which case one recycling center is located at the landfill. (Rl, H7)