| Abstract: | Solid waste management (SWM) is a pressing problem for many cities in developing countries. In low-income and middle-income countries, open dumpsites are used to dispose of over 80% solid wastes, currently serving around 3.5-4 billion people. (ISWA, 2015). Decision support tools can help communities in developing countries replace open dumps with the most environmentally friendly or economical waste management option. Most existing SWM decision support tools, however, have built-in data default values for developed countries. Thus, the overall goal of this research was to develop a SWM decision-support tool for developing countries. Specific objectives were to develop the Solid Waste Assessment Tool (SWAT), to illustrate the use of the tool by conducting case studies for two municipalities in Gujarat, India, and to analyze the results to understand how optimizing for the lowest cost, greenhouse gas emissions, and diesel consumption can affect SWM decisions. SWAT is a user-friendly Excel spreadsheet tool, which includes SWM collection and processing/disposal options common in developing countries, such as vermi-composting, regional landfills, and open dumps. |