Review Solid waste management in European countries: A review of systems analysis techniques Ana Pires a, * , Graça Martinho a , Ni-Bin Chang b a Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal b Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816, USA article info Article history: Received 19 March 2010 Received in revised form 27 October 2010 Accepted 29 November 2010 Available online 30 December 2010 Keywords: Solid waste management Systems analysis Integrated solid waste management Sustainability abstract In the past few decades, solid waste management systems in Europe have involved complex and multi- faceted trade-offs among a plethora of technological alternatives, economic instruments, and regulatory frameworks. These changes resulted in various environmental, economic, social, and regulatory impacts in waste management practices which not only complicate regional policy analysis, but also reshape the paradigm of global sustainable development. Systems analysis, a discipline that harmonizes these integrated solid waste management strategies, has been uniquely providing interdisciplinary support for decision making in this area. Systems engineering models and system assessment tools, both of which enrich the analytical framework of waste management, were designed specifically to handle particular types of problems. Though how to smooth out the barriers toward achieving appropriate systems synthesis and integration of these models and tools to aid in the solid waste management schemes prevalent in European countries still remains somewhat uncertain. This paper conducts a thorough literature review of models and tools illuminating possible overlapped boundaries in waste management practices in European countries and encompassing the pros and cons of waste management practices in each member state of the European Union. Whereas the Southern European Union (EU) countries need to develop further measures to implement more integrated solid waste management and reach EU direc- tives, the Central EU countries need models and tools with which to rationalize their technological choices and management strategies. Nevertheless, considering systems analysis models and tools in a synergistic way would certainly provide opportunities to develop better solid waste management strategies leading to conformity with current standards and foster future perspectives for both the waste management industry and government agencies in European Union. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Abbreviations: ADEME, Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie; AWAST, aid in the management and European comparison of a municipal solid waste treatment for a global and sustainable approach; BMW, biodegradable municipal waste; CBA, costebenefit analysis; CERA, comparative environmental risk assessment; DP, dynamic programming; DSD, Duales System Deutschland; DSSs, decision support systems; EASEWASTE, environmental assessment of solid waste systems and technologies; EC, European Community; EDX/EDI, electronic data exchange; EEA, European Environment Agency; EEC, European Economic Community; EIA, environmental impact assessment; EIONET, European environment information and observation network; EPR, extended producer responsibility; ERA, environmental risk assessment; ES, expert system; EU, European Union; EUDIN, European Data Interchange of Waste Notification System; FM, forecasting models; GHG, greenhouse gas; GIGO, garbage in, garbage out; GIP, grey integer programming; GIS, geographic information system; IMS, integrated modeling system; IOA, inputeoutput analysis; ISWM, integrated solid waste management; IWM, integrated waste management; LATS, landfill allowance trading system; LCA, life cycle assessment; LCI, life cycle inventory; LP, linear programming; MCDM, multicriteria decision making; MFA, material flowanalysis; MIP, mixed-integer programming; MIMES/WASTE, model for description and optimization of integrated material flows and energy systems; MIS, management information system; MSW, municipal solid waste; NIMBY, not in my backyard;NLP, non-linear programming model; OM, optimization models; ORWARE, ORganic WAste REsearch;PAYT, pay-as-you-throw; PET, polyethylene terephthalate; QAS, qualityassurance system; RA, environmental and ecological risk assessment; SA, sustainability assessment; SD, scenario development; SDS, sustainable development strategy; SEA, strategic environmental assessment; SFA, substance flow analysis; SFINX, substance flow inter-nodal exchange; SM, simulation models; SoEA, socioeconomic assessment; STAN, subSTance flow ANalysis; SWIM, solid waste-integrated model; SWM, solid waste management; TASAR, tool for analyzing separation actions and recovery; WASTED, waste analysis software tool for environmental decisions; WHP, waste hierarchy principle; WISARD, waste-integrated systems for assessment of recovery and disposal; WRAP, Waste Resources Allocation Program; WRATE, waste and resources assessment tool for the environment; XML, extensible markup language. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ351 21 294 83 97; fax: þ351 21 294 85 54. E-mail address: alp11931@fct.unl.pt (A. Pires). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman 0301-4797/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.11.024 Journal of Environmental Management 92 (2011) 1033e1050