Cost-effectiveness of GHG emission reduction measures and energy recovery from municipal waste in Croatia

Abstract

Many of the modern practices in waste management at the same time represent means of reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The main focus in this paper is given to the measures for recovering energy from municipal solid waste (MSW): Utilization of landfill gas for electricity production, Utilization of refuse derived fuel (RDF) in cement industry, Thermal treatment (Incineration) of MSW, Mechanical-biological treatment, and to one measure without energy recovery – Landfill gas flaring, for all of which it was found that could generate substantial GHG emission savings.The economic side of the implementation of these measures, considering the GHG emission reduction, is analysed in order to determine the priority between them. With respect to the cost-effectiveness, marginal costs (expressed as € per ton of reduced or avoided CO2eq) are calculated for all the measures.It was determined that around 1 million tons of CO2 can be avoided in 2020, which is 2.7% of projected GHG emissions in Croatia, while the energy that could be recovered from waste is 8.3 PJ in 2020, which represents about 3% of the total final energy consumption in 2008. The measures Utilization of landfill gas for electricity production and Landfill gas flaring showed the greatest economic benefit.