Life cycle assessment of municipal solid waste management scenarios on the small island of Mauritius

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avinash Rajcoomar ◽  
Toolseeram Ramjeawon

The aim of this study was to use the life cycle assessment tool to assess, from an environmental point of view, the different possible municipal solid waste (MSW) management scenarios for the island of Mauritius. The scenarios include landfilling with energy recovery (S1), incineration with energy recovery (S2), composting, incineration and landfilling (S3) and finally composting, recycling, incineration and landfilling (S4). The MSW generated in 2010 was selected as the functional unit. Foreground data were collected through surveys and literature. Background data were obtained from ecoinvent data in SimaPro 8 libraries. The scenarios were compared both through the CML-IA baseline–midpoint method and the ReCiPe end-point method. From the midpoint method, the results obtained indicates that landfilling (S1) has the greatest impact in all the analyzed impact categories except ozone layer depletion and human toxicity, while incineration (S2) has the least impact on almost all the analyzed damage categories except in global warming potential and human toxicity. The collection and transportation of waste has a significant impact on the environment. From the end-point method, S4 reduces the damage impact categories on Human Health, Ecosystems and Resources due to the recycling process. S3 is not favorable due to the impact caused by the composting process. However, it is also very important to emphasize that for incineration, the best available technology with energy recovery shall be considered. It is recommended that S2 and S4 are considered for strategic planning.

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhupendra K Sharma ◽  
Munish K Chandel

Dumping of municipal solid waste into uncontrolled dumpsites is the most common method of waste disposal in most cities of India. These dumpsites are posing a serious challenge to environmental quality and sustainable development. Mumbai, which generates over 9000 t of municipal solid waste daily, also disposes of most of its waste in open dumps. It is important to analyse the impact of municipal solid waste disposal today and what would be the impact under integrated waste management schemes. In this study, life cycle assessment methodology was used to determine the impact of municipal solid waste management under different scenarios. Six different scenarios were developed as alternatives to the current practice of open dumping and partially bioreactor landfilling. The scenarios include landfill with biogas collection, incineration and different combinations of recycling, landfill, composting, anaerobic digestion and incineration. Global warming, acidification, eutrophication and human toxicity were assessed as environmental impact categories. The sensitivity analysis shows that if the recycling rate is increased from 10% to 90%, the environmental impacts as compared with present scenario would reduce from 998.43 kg CO2 eq t−1 of municipal solid waste, 0.124 kg SO2 eq t−1, 0.46 kg PO4−3 eq t−1, 0.44 kg 1,4-DB eq t−1 to 892.34 kg CO2 eq t−1, 0.121 kg SO2 eq t−1, 0.36 kg PO4−3 eq t−1, 0.40 kg 1,4-DB eq t−1, respectively. An integrated municipal solid waste management approach with a mix of recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion and landfill had the lowest overall environmental impact. The technologies, such as incineration, would reduce the global warming emission because of the highest avoided emissions, however, human toxicity would increase.


2021 ◽  
Vol 128 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Navarro Ferronato ◽  
Luca Moresco ◽  
Gabriela Edith Guisbert Lizarazu ◽  
Marcelo Antonio Gorritty Portillo ◽  
Fabio Conti ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 0734242X2110039
Author(s):  
Federico Sisani ◽  
Amani Maalouf ◽  
Francesco Di Maria

The environmental and energy performances of the Italian municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) system was investigated by a life cycle assessment approach. On average the 39 MSWIs operating in Italy in 2018 treated about 6,000,000 Mg of residual municipal solid waste (RMSW) recovering on average from 448 kWh Mg−1 RMSW to 762 kWh Mg−1 RMSW of electricity and from 732 kWh Mg−1 RMSW to 1102 kWh Mg−1 RMSW of heat. The average quantity of CO2eq Mg−1 RMSW emitted ranged from about 800 up to about 1000 depending on the size and on the energy recovery scheme of the facility. Avoided impacts (i.e., negative values) were detected for the kg PM2,5eq Mg−1 RMSW and for human health (disability-adjusted life year Mg−1 RMSW). The determination of the hybrid primary energy index (MJ Mg−1 RMSW) indicated that mainly large size facilities and those operating according to a power and heat energy recovery scheme are effectively able to replace other primary energies by the exploitation of the lower heating values of the RMSW.


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