Greenhouse gas emissions accounting for waste management at the local scale

Abstract

The administrative jurisdiction of the Province of Siena (Tuscany, central Italy) and the waste company (named Siena Ambiente S.p.A.), that operates within the provincial boundaries, have equipped themselves of the Greenhouse gas (GHG) Inventories of the solid waste disposal plants in the integrated management system with the aim to obtain a planning tool. The GHG inventories have been processed in time series (2008–2011) and include 3 landfills, 1 incinerator, 2 composting, 1 selection and valorization production lines. Results show a 12% reduction of the total GHG emissions from 2009 to 2011 due to better landfill management. Moreover, a further GHG emission reduction equal to almost 34% could be obtained if electricity from renewable resources is used (i.e. burned wastes, biogas recovery from landfills and photovoltaic panels). On this way, the consumption of the imported electricity from the national grid, which is mainly obtained by traditional thermoelectric technologies, is avoided. The present experience could be adopted as a reference model for public and private organizations, considering that the provided planning tool could suggest time series emission reduction strategies for interacting with waste disposal facilities. Territorial systems at different scales (cities, municipalities, regions and nations) might be involved in this type of analysis, so as to calibrate the waste management system according to the estimates obtained by GHG inventories, which may be verified ISO 14064 by an independent third organization in order to increase the result reliability.