Characterising municipal solid waste to analyse life-cycle energy demand and emissions

A life cycle assessment of waste management in Pyongyang, Korea was undertaken using a characterisation-based method to analyse cumulative energy demand and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. The study showed that characterising waste fractions by composition, proportion, water content and heating value rather than simply mass was more effective for energy-related analysis in life-cycle assessments. The results indicated that the energy demand and emissions indicators could be used as appropriate proxies of the environmental impacts in life-cycle phases, since they were closely related. The results also revealed that waste incineration could result in energy credit to the national electricity mix, while waste landfill needed to be replaced with sanitary landfill and/or switched to incineration with energy recovery to be more sustainable.