LCA: A decision support tool for environmental assessment of MSW management systems

Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be successfully applied to municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems to identify the overall environmental burdens and to assess the potential environmental impacts. In this study, two methods used for current MSW management in Phuket, a province of Thailand, lan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental management 2008-04, Vol.87 (1), p.132-138
Main Authors: Liamsanguan, Chalita, Gheewala, Shabbir H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Pollutants
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Climate change
Conservation of Energy Resources
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Decision Support Techniques
Energy consumption
Environmental economics
Environmental impact
Environmental management
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Global warming
Greenhouse Effect
Greenhouse gas emission
Incineration
Life cycle assessment
Life cycles
Municipal solid waste management
Refuse Disposal - methods
Resource management
Risk assessment
Waste disposal
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Summary:Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be successfully applied to municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems to identify the overall environmental burdens and to assess the potential environmental impacts. In this study, two methods used for current MSW management in Phuket, a province of Thailand, landfilling (without energy recovery) and incineration (with energy recovery), are compared from both energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission points of view. The comparisons are based on a direct activity consideration and also a life cycle perspective. In both cases as well as for both parameters considered, incineration was found to be superior to landfilling. However, the performance of incineration was much better when a life cycle perspective was used. Also, landfilling reversed to be superior to incineration when methane recovery and electricity production were introduced. This study reveals that a complete picture of the environmental performance of MSW management systems is provided by using a life cycle perspective.
ISSN:0301-4797
1095-8630
DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.01.003