ComLife cycle assessment of municipal solid waste management systems in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology used to evaluate the environmental impacts of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems. In this article, the authors apply the LCA method to investigate the best solution for the MSWM system in Ho Chi Minh city, supported by GaBi software. The LCA results from three scenarios of waste-to-energy, composting, and landfilling reveal their effects on global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, and photochemical ozone creation potential. Overall, the results indicate that waste-to-energy and composting scenarios are competitive options.Waste-to-energy is environmentally friendly with a total environmental impact of 62%, which is only a quarter of the impact of landfilling. The composting scenario in the mechanical-biological treatment plant shows promising results of 81% reduction in environmental impact, while landfilling is the most polluting scenario with a total environmental impact potential of 257%. In this study, the scenarios are only investigated from an environmental perspective, for the economic and social impacts of waste management, other decision-making tools should be considered.