The article presents the methodology which can help the decision makers in evaluation of different municipal solid waste disposal systems. The results of the well known computer Integrated Waste Management model (IWM-1) are usually too fragmented to allow the final decision. The authors present the scientific background of the IWM-1 results integration. The results of the IWM-1 model analysis have been integrated into some specific categories that originate from the field of the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). The authors propose 11 environmental categories plus the general ones calculated by the IWM-1 model. The presented categories describe the environmental impact of the analyzed system and are far easier to identify and understand by the public and by the decision makers. The developed methodology has been applied for the City of Krakow. The authors analyze two Krakow municipal solid waste disposal systems. The first system has been in operation for the last few years. The waste is collected and disposed at the landfill site while recycling and composting are implemented only in a limited scale. The second system presents the potential ultimate solid waste option for Krakow, where the waste is sorted extensively, then a significant part of organic fraction is composted, and the rest of the waste goes to the incinerator. The presented analysis compares these two systems. The authors use the results from the IWM-1 models for both systems as the input data to calculate the proposed impact categories. The final outcome is presented as graphs with the detail description of each stage of generation.
Siting a municipal solid waste disposal facility, Part II: The effects of external criteria on the final decision
