Continental municipalities have derived many benefits from the economies of scale associated with a regional approach to facilities location and management planning. Centralized solid waste processing facilities is an example. Island communities, however, surrounded by miles of ocean, are constrained to a fragmented approach to the facilities location solution. This research was conducted to determine if the regional paradigm suggested in the literature is applicable to a set of island communities connected by an ocean transportation infrastructure. A linear programming (LP) model, constraints and data requirements were developed and applied to a network of islands. A series of hypothetical material recovery facilities (MRF) location scenarios were studied using actual and projected data obtained for the three-island territory of the U. S. Virgin Islands. In all cases, a significant reduction in capital construction expenditures was realized. For the selected data values in the research, transportation and operating costs increased as expected, but by a surprisingly small amount. This research concludes that the regional approach to economic and environmental facilities planning for island communities is valid. Future research involving larger systems of islands and stochastic processes is suggested.
","abstract_html":"<p>Continental municipalities have derived many benefits from the economies of scale associated with a regional approach to facilities location and management planning. Centralized solid waste processing facilities is an example. Island communities, however, surrounded by miles of ocean, are constrained to a fragmented approach to the facilities location solution. This research was conducted to determine if the regional paradigm suggested in the literature is applicable to a set of island communities connected by an ocean transportation infrastructure. A linear programming (LP) model, constraints and data requirements were developed and applied to a network of islands. A series of hypothetical material recovery facilities (MRF) location scenarios were studied using actual and projected data obtained for the three-island territory of the U. S. Virgin Islands. In all cases, a significant reduction in capital construction expenditures was realized. For the selected data values in the research, transportation and operating costs increased as expected, but by a surprisingly small amount. This research concludes that the regional approach to economic and environmental facilities planning for island communities is valid. Future research involving larger systems of islands and stochastic processes is suggested.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Prince, Lloyd O., Jr."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Engineering Management & Systems Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Derya A. Jacobs","Billie M. Reed","Resit Unal"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1994,"date_issued":"1994-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"1994-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:35:00Z","subjects":["Sanitation","United States Virgin Islands","Location model study","Economies of scale","Environmental Sciences","Operational Research","Transportation"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/emse_etds/147","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Derya A. Jacobs","Billie M. Reed","Resit Unal"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Prince, Lloyd O., Jr."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-08-14T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Engineering Management & Systems Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Sanitation","United States Virgin Islands","Location model study","Economies of scale","Environmental Sciences","Operational Research","Transportation"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/emse_etds/147"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Continental municipalities have derived many benefits from the economies of scale associated with a regional approach to facilities location and management planning. Centralized solid waste processing facilities is an example. Island communities, however, surrounded by miles of ocean, are constrained to a fragmented approach to the facilities location solution. This research was conducted to determine if the regional paradigm suggested in the literature is applicable to a set of island communities connected by an ocean transportation infrastructure. A linear programming (LP) model, constraints and data requirements were developed and applied to a network of islands. A series of hypothetical material recovery facilities (MRF) location scenarios were studied using actual and projected data obtained for the three-island territory of the U. S. Virgin Islands. In all cases, a significant reduction in capital construction expenditures was realized. For the selected data values in the research, transportation and operating costs increased as expected, but by a surprisingly small amount. This research concludes that the regional approach to economic and environmental facilities planning for island communities is valid. Future research involving larger systems of islands and stochastic processes is suggested.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Materials Recovery Facilities in the United States Virgin Islands: A Regional Facilities Location Model Study"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Derya A. Jacobs","Billie M. Reed","Resit Unal"],"dc:creator":["Prince, Lloyd O., Jr."],"dc:date.available":["2019-08-14T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Continental municipalities have derived many benefits from the economies of scale associated with a regional approach to facilities location and management planning. Centralized solid waste processing facilities is an example. Island communities, however, surrounded by miles of ocean, are constrained to a fragmented approach to the facilities location solution. This research was conducted to determine if the regional paradigm suggested in the literature is applicable to a set of island communities connected by an ocean transportation infrastructure. A linear programming (LP) model, constraints and data requirements were developed and applied to a network of islands. A series of hypothetical material recovery facilities (MRF) location scenarios were studied using actual and projected data obtained for the three-island territory of the U. S. Virgin Islands. In all cases, a significant reduction in capital construction expenditures was realized. For the selected data values in the research, transportation and operating costs increased as expected, but by a surprisingly small amount. This research concludes that the regional approach to economic and environmental facilities planning for island communities is valid. Future research involving larger systems of islands and stochastic processes is suggested.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/emse_etds/147"],"dc:subject":["Sanitation","United States Virgin Islands","Location model study","Economies of scale","Environmental Sciences","Operational Research","Transportation"],"dc:title":["Materials Recovery Facilities in the United States Virgin Islands: A Regional Facilities Location Model Study"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Engineering Management & Systems Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:35:00Z"}