{
  "abstract": "Open dumping remains a dominant municipal solid waste disposal practice globally, including in megacities whose populations and economic output rival that of small countries. Sanitary landfilling is a common transition away from open dumping, yet system-level feasibility does not translate into household affordability. Here we quantify this divergence using an integrated city-scale framework that combines spatial landfill siting, engineering-based net-present-value modeling, and satellite-derived metropolitan gross domestic product. Applying this framework across six developing megacities with over 100 million residents, we find that all cities possess surplus land meeting screening-level suitability criteria. Required cost-recovery tipping fees range from 54–130 US dollars per tonne, with 5 th –95 th -percentile intervals of ±25%–30% under joint parameter uncertainty. Under full household cost recovery, these fees imply annual disposal costs equivalent to 1.2%–2.0% of the minimum wage, whereas associated revenue requirements represent only 0.26%–1.04% of metropolitan gross domestic product. Across cities, household affordability is uncorrelated with metropolitan economic capacity. Landfill depth is the dominant engineering control on affordability, particularly in high-rainfall systems, but cost allocation exerts greater leverage than any design parameter. Thus, technically and macroscopically feasible landfills may remain difficult to sustain through direct household cost recovery without cross-subsidization and public financing.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Yugo Sato",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3896-0176"
    },
    {
      "name": "Guanghao Chen",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1353-8585"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8sswb4ghszv8e.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s43247-026-04208-1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "8sswb4ghszv8e",
  "issns": [
    "2662-4435"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-04208-1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-03",
  "publisher": "Springer Science and Business Media LLC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8sswb4ghszv8e.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-03T12:20:24Z",
      "native_id": "10.1038/s43247-026-04208-1",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-04208-1"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-03T18:20:12Z",
      "native_id": "10.1038/s43247-026-04208-1",
      "source": "feed-nature",
      "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-04208-1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "journal-openalex:F19",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Household affordability of sanitary landfilling is governed by cost allocation rather than metropolitan economic capacity",
  "title_text": "Household affordability of sanitary landfilling is governed by cost allocation rather than metropolitan economic capacity",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-05T00:20:39Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8sswb4ghszv8e",
  "venue": "Communications Earth & Environment",
  "versions": []
}