Abstract
Poland’s management of municipal waste, which amounts to over 13 million tons/year, is not efficient—about 60% of the waste is subjected to recovery processes, about 20% of all municipal waste is converted into energy, and almost 40% is landfilled. The authors of this article recognize the potential of pyrolysis as a method of the thermal processing of waste allowing the potential of the energy contained in the waste to be utilized. Pyrolysis is an economically attractive alternative to incineration, with a significantly lower environmental impact, allowing efficient waste management and the use of pyrolysis by-products in the energy sector (pyrolysis gas), or in the building materials sector (biochar). Despite so many advantages, this method is not employed in Poland. The aim of the paper is to indicate a recommended strategy for the application of pyrolysis in Poland as a method of the thermal processing of municipal solid waste. SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis was used as a research method. In the first step, on the basis of the literature review, the factors which may affect the use of pyrolysis in Poland were identified. In the second step, five experts evaluated the weights of those factors and the interactions between them. The products of the weights and interactions allowed, in accordance with SWOT analysis methodology, the most desirable strategy of pyrolysis application in Poland to be determined, which turned out to be an aggressive one. This means that pyrolysis as a thermal waste processing method should be implemented on a large scale in Poland to improve the indicators of municipal waste management.
Highlights
The experts assigned weights in the numerical range (0–1) to particular factors which might affect the application of the pyrolysis process of municipal solid waste in Poland
The sum of the weights in the factor group was 1.0. This allowed the following questions to be answered: (1) Will the strengths of pyrolysis allow the opportunities to be taken advantage of? (2) Will the strengths of pyrolysis overcome the threats? (3) Will the weaknesses in pyrolysis hinder the opportunities from being seized? (4) Will the weaknesses in pyrolysis compound the impact of the existing threats? the experts identified the interactions between the studied factors—the occurrence of interaction was marked with a value equal to 1, while the absence of interaction with a value equal to 0
The identification by the authors of an aggressive strategy for the management of municipal solid waste in Poland using the pyrolysis method represents the most favorable situation possible because in the current economic conditions the strengths of the pyrolysis process prevail and the environment is full of opportunities
Summary
The main reasons for that are the growing rate of technological progress and consumerist lifestyle [2]
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