Cost benefit analysis of a municipal solid waste recycling facility in Soweto, South Africa

Rapid population and economic growth, changes in consumption pattern etc. have become major contributing factors to severe municipal solid waste generation globally. Thus, various methods are being employed to manage the incessant municipal solid waste generation for a sustainable solid waste management and one of the viable approaches is the recycling option. The main objective of this paper is to determine the cost benefit analysis of setting up a recycling facility for the processing of various wastes for use as raw materials by industries. The cost benefit analysis was carried out based on historic data obtained from the municipality and some recent waste composition data. The overall analysis was done using Excel software. From the Excel software analysis, Internal Rate of Return on investment was 42%, Internal Rate of Return on equity was 98% and Net Present Value was R 63, 420,000 (USD$ 4646225.33). In ascertaining the result obtained from the Microsoft Excel, three data analysis and technical computing software (MATLAB, Python, and R-Studio) were employed. This was necessary to compare and validate the cost-benefit indicators (Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return). Besides, evaluating the performance of each software with regards to the cost-benefit evaluation is ideal for a recycling plant like this to establish the feasibility of the project. Moreover, sensitivity analysis was conducted, and a breakeven point of 211 tons of waste was obtained. In addition, the total benefit of recycling was valued and was given as R 486,008,582.85 (USD$ 35605572.16). From the overall analysis, it was observed that the IRR and Net Present Value were alike, about 677 potential jobs could be created on the project and the Net Present Value > 0. Based on the overall analysis, it was concluded that the project is viable.