ITCLP: An inexact two-stage chance-constrained program for planning waste management systems

An inexact two-stage chance-constrained linear programming (ITCLP) method is developed for planning waste management systems. The model is derived by incorporating the techniques of two-stage and chance-constrained programming within a general interval-optimization framework. It can tackle uncertainties presented as both probability distributions and discrete intervals. Moreover, it can be used for analyzing various policy scenarios that are associated with different levels of economic penalties when the promised policy targets are violated. It can also help examine the reliability of satisfying (or risk of violating) system constraints under uncertainty. The developed method is applied to a case of long-term waste management planning. Interval solutions associated different risk levels of constraint violation are obtained. They can be used for generating decision alternatives and thus help waste managers to identify desired policies under various environmental, economic, and system-reliability constraints. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.