Waste Management Indicators for Myrtle Beach, SC
This paper examines the solid waste management and recycling system operated by the City of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and proposes a family of performance indicators to evaluate its success. After providing an overview of the city's weekly collection system across four residential zones, the paper identifies two primary indicators: total per capita waste generation and recycling rate. Drawing on World Bank benchmarks and comparative examples from Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore, the analysis shows that while 60% of Myrtle Beach's collected waste is recyclable, only roughly 20% of total solid waste is ultimately recycled — a figure well below target. The paper argues these indicators are essential for tracking progress toward the city's disposal and recycling objectives.
- Introduction: Context for Myrtle Beach solid waste study
- Overview of the Myrtle Beach Solid Waste System: How the city's weekly collection system works
- Selecting Success Indicators: Why and how indicators are chosen
- Per Capita Waste Generation: Using waste output to measure collection effectiveness
- Recycling Rate: Measuring how much waste is actually recycled
- Conclusion: Summary of proposed performance framework
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds the analysis in a specific real-world municipal system, making the discussion concrete and locally relevant rather than abstract.
- Applies international comparative examples (Japan, Taiwan, Singapore) to justify indicator selection, demonstrating broader academic awareness.
- Quantifies the gap between potential and actual recycling performance (60% recyclable vs. roughly 20% actually recycled), giving the indicators immediate analytical bite.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper uses benchmarking — comparing local performance data against World Bank averages and international best practices — to contextualize the chosen indicators. This technique transforms raw statistics into meaningful evaluative tools, showing readers not just what the numbers are but what they mean in relation to stated goals.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief introduction to Myrtle Beach and its local government context, then describes the operational mechanics of the solid waste system. It transitions to a discussion of why indicators matter and how objectives shape indicator choice, before defining and analyzing the two chosen metrics in separate sections. The structure is lean and direct, moving logically from system description to performance measurement.
Introduction
The City of Myrtle Beach is both a residential and vacation community in South Carolina. The city has over 30,000 permanent residents and millions of visitors attracted by its warm weather, wide beaches, and entertainment services. The city operates under a local government with over 900 staff members who work to deliver various services within its jurisdiction. Among these services is solid waste management and recycling (City of Myrtle Beach, n.d.). This service is administered by the solid waste division, which falls under the public works department of the local government of Myrtle Beach. This paper presents a family of indicators that could be used to determine the system's success.
Overview of the Myrtle Beach Solid Waste System
All forms of household waste, yard waste, and bulky junk are collected by the solid waste division staff on a weekly basis, on a scheduled service day for each of four specific zones — all of which lie within the city limits. For a fee of $2 per month, residential customers may choose between two sizes of recycling roll-out carts and two sizes of solid waste roll-out carts. On the service day, customers are required to place their carts at the curbside by 6:00 a.m. and to have them removed from the curbside by 11:00 p.m. on the same day. The system handles household waste, yard waste, electronic waste, industrial waste, and bulky items, routing materials either to recycling or to specialized disposal through private waste management companies. The twin objectives of the Myrtle Beach waste management system are disposal and recycling.
Selecting Success Indicators
Waste management indicators are used to measure performance and track progress toward predetermined waste management goals. The specific indicators chosen vary with the overall waste management objective. For example, waste management in Japan is heavily focused on recycling, Taiwan emphasizes waste reduction, and Singapore prioritizes waste-to-energy recovery (Visvanathan, 2012). In Myrtle Beach, waste management adopts a disposal and recycling approach. Accordingly, the indicators selected are quantifiable variables that measure progress toward achieving waste disposal and recycling goals:
i. Total amount of per capita waste generation (tons or kg per person per day)
ii. Recycling rate (expressed as a percentage)
Per Capita Waste Generation
The amount of waste generated varies with affluence, and differences between counties or regions can be significant. According to the World Bank, municipalities in the United States generate approximately 4.48 pounds of solid waste per person per day. About 60 percent of this waste is recyclable, and roughly 30 percent of the waste collected in the City of Myrtle Beach is directed to landfills.
This indicator is useful for determining the effectiveness of waste collection. Total per capita waste generation is proportional to the economic status of a region; it therefore indicates whether waste production is occurring at expected levels relative to the standard benchmark. In addition, this indicator establishes the baseline for planning waste management operations. The World Bank's solid waste management resources provide comparative data that help contextualize local figures within a global framework.
Conclusion
The two indicators identified — per capita waste generation and recycling rate — provide a measurable framework for evaluating the Myrtle Beach solid waste system's progress toward its disposal and recycling objectives. The current recycling rate of approximately 20% of total solid waste generated highlights a significant gap between potential and actual performance, and tracking these indicators over time will be essential for guiding improvements to the system.
References
City of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. (n.d.). Solid waste division. Retrieved from
Lindblom, C. E. (1959). The science of "muddling through." Public Administration Review, 19(2), 79–88.
Visvanathan, C. (2012). Waste management indicators — Priority and challenges. Asia Resource Circulation Policy Research Workshop, 12–14 December 2012, Bangkok. Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.
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