Abstract
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management has been a major problem of modern cities for many years. Thus, the development of optimal waste management strategies has been a priority for the European Commission, especially in the transition toward a circular economy. In this paper, an analysis of different MSW treatment methods that can be effectively implemented in the Region of Central Macedonia (RCM) is provided, and their comparison from an environmental point of view is performed. The assessment is based on real data indicated in the recently updated Greek National Waste Management Plan, whereas the different scenarios developed include landfilling without energy recovery, landfilling with energy recovery, recycling and secondary materials recovery, mechanical-biological treatment, bio-waste composting and anaerobic digestion with energy recovery, and incineration with energy recovery. The obtained results illustrate that efficient waste streams sorting is of vital importance for the effective implementation of an integrated waste management system toward the sustainable management of MSW.
Highlights
Waste management can be characterized as the strongest common threat that all countries are facing worldwide
The current study focuses both on the environmental impacts caused by the existing waste management scheme in the Region of Central Macedonia (RCM) and the comparison of specific alternative scenarios regarding Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management in the RCM
The application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out with the use of SimaPro software [34], which enables the evaluation of environmental impacts for all alternatives scenarios for the waste management treatment practices (WMTP) with the use of specific environmental impact indicators that will be further analyzed
Summary
Waste management can be characterized as the strongest common threat that all countries are facing worldwide. Regardless of its content/composition, directly or not, waste is one of the greatest challenges of the urban world [1]. Until recently urban solid waste was not considered to be a problem, nowadays more and more countries around the world develop waste management strategies, studies, and projects [2]. Sustainability 2020, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW. Sustainability 2020, 12, 8221 be a problem, nowadays more and more countries around the world develop waste management strategies, studies, and projects [2]. Theworld worldpopulation populationisisconstantly constantlygrowing, growing, while while lifestyles lifestyles and and trends trends are are changing changing rapidly.
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