Environmental Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Management using Life Cycle Analysis

Abstract

In this study, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool was employed to assess the environmental impact of Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in Pune, India, under four different scenarios. These scenarios included composting combined with landfilling (S1), a material recovery facility (MRF) and composting combined with landfilling (S2), MRF and anaerobic digestion (AD) combined with landfilling (S3), and MRF, AD, and composting combined with landfilling (S4). The environmental assessments have been performed by means of the LCA- based tool EASEWASTE, aimed to compare these scenarios based on their effects on global warming, human toxicity, eutrophication, and photochemical ozone creation potential categories. The results of the study showed that Scenario S2 had the least environmental impact across these categories. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess how changes in the recycling rate of valuable resources influenced the environmental burdens in all scenarios. The findings from this analysis revealed an inversely proportional relationship between changes in the recycling rate and the overall environmental impact. This research utilized LCA to evaluate the environmental implications of MSWM scenarios in Pune, India, and found that Scenario S2 was the most environmentally favourable. The sensitivity analysis highlighted the significance of recycling rates in mitigating environmental burdens in the different waste management scenarios.