Landfill Reduction Research Articles

Analyzing the impact factors of remanufacturing industry on the Indian economy: a step towards circular economy

Purpose The purpose of this article is to investigate and analyze the interactions between economic and sustainable development elements in the context of remanufacturing in India. Design/methodology/approach To comprehend the hierarchical and contextual link among factors impacting remanufacturing in India, the study used interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) methodologies. Findings The integrated ISM-DEMATEL approach identifies optimal utilization of the resources as the most crucial factor influencing remanufacturing in India, followed by reducing landfills, conserving energy and low cost. The study also reveals that optimal utilization of resources, reduction of landfills, conservation of energy and incorporated advanced technology impacts most of the factors but get affected by a few factors. Practical implications Industry practitioners and policymakers should consider the remanufacturing process to achieve sustainable and economic development. The government and other stakeholders can use the ISM framework and cause-and-effect diagram to classify the impact factors and their impact on the Indian economy and environment. Social implications This study supports the process to save the landfills and curbing pollution, conserve energy and optimize utilization of the resources, generate employment and supporting the development of the economy. Remanufacturing will undoubtedly contribute to the development of an environment and economy in India that benefits both. Originality/value ISM and DEMATELs strategy offers a tiered model and a cause-and-effect relationship between the variables affecting remanufacturing in India.

In-situ treatment of gaseous benzene in fixed-bed biofilter with polyurethane foam: Functional population response and benzene transformation pathway

Volatile organic compounds emitted from landfills posed adverse effect on health. In this study, gaseous benzene was biologically treated using an in-situ biofilter without air pump. Its performance was investigated and the removal efficiency of benzene reached over 90 %. The decrease in the average benzene concentration was consistent with first-order reaction kinetics. Mycolicibacterium dominated the bacterial consortium (41–57 %) throughout the degradation. Annotation of genes by metagenomic analysis helped to deduce the degradation pathways (benzene degradation, catechol ortho-cleavage and meta-cleavage) and to reveal the contribution of different species to the degradation process. In total, 21 kinds of key genes and 13 enzymes were involved in the three modules of benzene transformation. Mycolicibacter icosiumassiliensis and Sphingobium sp. SCG-1 carried multiple functional genes critically involved in benzene biodegradation. These findings provide technical and theoretical support for the in-situ bioremediation of benzene-contaminated soil and waste gas reduction in landfills.

Circular Economy Strategies in Densification and Refurbishment of Residential Buildings – State of Application and Future Directions

The fast population and economic growth put tremendous pressure on the planet’s resources. In this context, the building sector is recognized as one of the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and the use of raw materials. The Circular Economy (CE) is expected to contribute to a reduction of waste landfills, extraction of raw materials, and greenhouse gas emissions. This study aims to understand to what degree and how CE strategies can be applied to the refurbishment and densification of residential buildings. Using a qualitative approach, this study examines the application of CE strategies in the building sector through five semi-structured expert interviews. The literature identifies five CE principles for buildings: building in layers, designing-out waste, designing for adaptability and flexibility, designing for disassembly, and selecting materials. From the interviews, designing-out waste was the most common approach for refurbishment and densification of residential buildings. Nevertheless, the implementation of CE strategies within the building sector is still limited and challenging due to various barriers and little encouragement. More stimuli from governments through regulations and guidelines, increased collaboration between stakeholders, and technological advancements are expected to reduce the obstacles to implementing CE strategies in refurbishment and densification.

Experimental study on dynamic properties of flax fiber reinforced recycled aggregate concrete

Recycling waste concrete is critical to land use and reduction of landfills. It is a good option to recycle the waste coarse aggregates from it and add them to the concrete matrix. Due to the existence of new and old interface transition zones (ITZs), the quasi-static compressive strength of recycled aggregate concrete is lower than that of natural aggregate concrete, which limits the widespread application of recycled aggregate concrete. In order to improve its engineering application of recycled aggregate concrete, the dynamic compressive properties were studied. Thus, based on a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) device, the effects of strain rate and recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) replacement ratio on the failure mode, dynamic compressive strength, critical strain and toughness were investigated. It was found that increasing the strain rate led to the aggravation of the specimen damage and growth of the dynamic compressive strength, toughness and critical strain. At a high strain rate, the strain rate effect changed the failure mode of recycled aggregate concrete. This reduced the performance difference between recycled and natural aggregate concrete, in terms of the dynamic compressive strength. The recycled aggregate concrete had a similar toughness to the natural aggregate concrete. Although the growth of the RCA replacement ratio decreased the dynamic compressive strength and increased the critical strain, it had a little effect on the toughness. In order to reduce the brittleness of the recycled aggregate concrete and improve its deformability, non-synthetic, green and low-consumption flax fibers were incorporated into the concrete matrix, and its dynamic compressive behaviors were studied experimentally accordingly. Tests verified that the addition of flax fibers significantly reduced the damage and increased the critical strain. Especially when the strain rate was greater than 200 s-1, flax fiber reinforced recycled aggregate concrete exhibited a superior energy consumption ability. Based on the experimental data, empirical equations were proposed to describe the dynamic compressive strength, critical strain and toughness at different strain rates.

Solvothermal preparation of nitrogen-doped carbon dots with PET waste as precursor and their application in LEDs and water detection

Developing novel, alternative ways to recycle PET waste, which has an important influence on reduction of landfilling and CO2 emissions, has always been a research hot spot for industry and academy. In this work, PET waste was adopted as precursor for the preparation of nitrogen-doped Carbon Dots (NCDs). Firstly, PET oligomers were obtained by alcoholysis of PET waste with ethylene glycol. Then, the mixture without isolation and purification as well as pyromellitic acid dianhydride and urea were adopted as precursors for the preparation of NCDs by solvothermal method with tetrahydrofuran (THF) as solvent. The as-prepared NCDs has a spherical structure with an average particle size of 2.3 nm. What is more, NCDs exhibit excitation-independent emission properties, the largest excitation peak and emission peak of NCDs located in 360 nm and 470 nm, and the fluorescence quantum yield is 48.16 %. In term of application, NCDs are dispersed in PMMA and loaded on 365 nm and 430 nm LED chips to obtain LED devices emitting yellow light ((0.55, 0.44), 2018 K) and warm white light ((0.37, 0.31), 3783 K), respectively. In addition, NCDs could be adopted as fluorescent probe for the construction of sensor for water in organic solvents based on dynamic quenching of NCDs, and the limit of detection (LOD) is 0.00001 %.

Seven Businesses Using Principles of Circular Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Results of Field Research in Uganda.

Sub-Saharan Africa is facing multiple challenges regarding waste management, economic productivity, and climate change, all of which seriously endanger sustainable development. The concept of circular economy provides potential solutions for addressing this complex, multidimensional challenge. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the academic research and understanding of the circular economy’s status, its application, and its limits in the Sub-Saharan African context. Therefore, the study presents seven Ugandan businesses and entrepreneurs which apply circu- lar economy practices in their operations based on field research conducted in May 2021. The examples touch on plastic recycling, agriculture, carpentry, textile, and paper and packaging industries. The main economic benefits generated are lower input costs, saved waste management costs, and better products for consumers. The improvement of waste collection as well as the reduction of waste landfills and GHG emissions can be considered the most significant environmental benefits. Beside job and additional income creation, better hygienic conditions and improved food nutrient content represent important social benefits. The primary challenges are formed by machinery and production problems which, along with fierce competition over imported products, limit the achievement of economies of scale to support economic sustainability of these initiatives.

Evaluation of Shorting Facility Toward Archived Sustainable Waste Recovery in Talang Gulo landfill, Jambi City

Talang Gulo landfill has now been converted into a sanitary landfill system. In the management system, the incoming waste is sorted first. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the process of shorting waste at the Talang Gulo landfill to reduce the waste generation that is the reduction in landfills. This research was conducted by direct observation and using secondary data. The decrease in the number of waste reductions in Jambi City from 2019 to 2020 (9.52% to 1.77%). Data collection during June 2021 shows that the average generation that goes into landfills is 312.44 kg/day. The amount of waste that can be recovered from the shorting process is 2.4% of the total that goes to the shorting facility. The types of waste that are shorted consist of polyethene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), low-density polyethene (LDPE), aluminium, and glass. Where in the shorting process consists of two types of processes, namely mechanical and manual. The shorting with the mechanical and manual process obtained the highest PET waste with values, 38.82% and 56.8% respectively. The composition of the recovered waste in the Talang Gulo TPA Shorting Area is as follows LDPE Plastic 10.20%; aluminium 5.21%; Glass 1.30%; PET Plastic 38.83%; HDPE Plastic 24.3% and PP Plastic 20.17%.

Sulfate reduction behavior in pressure-bearing leachate saturated zone

Attention should be paid to the sulfate reduction behavior in a pressure-bearing leachate saturated zone. In this study, within the relative pressure range of 0–0.6 MPa, the ambient temperature with the highest sulfate reduction rate of 50°C was selected to explore the difference in sulfate reduction behavior in a pressure-bearing leachate saturated zone. The results showed that the sulfate reduction rate might further increase with an increase in pressure; however, owing to the effect of pressure increase, the generated hydrogen sulfide (H2S) could not be released on time, thereby decreasing its highest concentration by approximately 85%, and the duration extended to about two times that of the atmospheric pressure. Microbial community structure and functional gene abundance analyses showed that the community distribution of sulfate-reducing bacteria was significantly affected by pressure conditions, and there was a negative correlation between disulfide reductase B (dsrB) gene abundance and H2S release rate. Other sulfate reduction processes that do not require disulfide reductase A (dsrA) and dsrB genes may be the key pathways affecting the sulfate reduction rate in the pressure-bearing leachate saturated zone. This study improves the understanding of sulfate reduction in landfills as well as provides a theoretical basis for the operation and management of landfills.

Sustainable Composites Using Landfill Bound Materials

The demand for new methods of diverting materials from waste streams has grown as sustainability and landfill reduction goals continue to be set. Municipal solid waste combustion and waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities reduce landfill waste accumulation but ash material by-products are commonly sent to landfills. In this work, we evaluate the potential for fly ash to be used as an inert filler in post-consumer recycled polyethylene to maximize landfill diversion of high-volume materials. Using fly ash from solid waste combustion as a filler increases landfill diversion, reduces associated costs, and offsets the cost of the recycling for post-consumer plastics by blending with a low cost filler. Characterization of the fly ash revealed high variability in ash particle composition and size, which was expected due to the municipal solid waste source. A series of composites were compounded incorporating fly ash into recycled linear low-density polyethylene utilizing various compatibilizers. The composites were characterized for molecular interactions, thermal properties, mechanical properties and changes in melt processing via infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, electromechanical testing, and oscillatory melt rheology, respectively. Mechanical testing of the fly ash composites indicated that the fly ash did not significantly change the Young’s modulus or yield stress and the addition of various compatibilizer additives increased impact strength. The impact strength of the neat polymer decreased drastically from ∼55 kJ/m2 to ∼20 kJ/m2 at 5 wt. % fly ash. However, the addition of PGME compatibilizer at 0.75 wt. % increased the composite’s impact strength to roughly the same value as the neat polymer. Thus, the addition of a compatibilizer could be used to alter the fly ash filler composite’s resistance to flexural shock. These results indicate that fly ash can be added to recycled linear low-density polyethylene up to 10% while maintaining physical properties.

РОЗВИТОК ЦИРКУЛЯРНОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ ЯК ФАКТОР ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ

Introduction. The recovery of the Ukrainian economy should be based on sustainable development within the framework of the European Green Deal. This enables to merge perfectly into the European Community and to accelerate the Ukrainian manufacturing modernization. Reducing the resource and energy intensity of the economy is critical to strengthening the country's economic security and to reducing energy dependence. The environmental imperatives actually stepped outside the confines of environmental protection, having turned in an effective tool for economic development. At the same time, it is important to substantiate the theoretical and methodological foundations for assessing the state and monitoring the strengthening of economic security in the context of combating climate change, where the transition from a linear to a circular system of production and intensity plays a significant role, which determines the relevance of scientific research. Accordingly, the purpose of the study is to explore the impact of the environmental component on ensuring economic security; substantiate the main methodological approaches to assessing the circularity of the economy, which will allow to propose measures for implementing the possibilities of a circular transition to strengthen the economic security of Ukraine. Materials and methods. Theoretical and methodological base of research consists of general scientific methods: logical analysis (to clarify the list of environmental indicators and economic security); system-structural analysis (to streamline and systematize the principles, approaches, features of the development of the circular economy); rating method and comparative analysis to determine the level of development of the circular economy of Ukraine among other countries; statistical analysis (to identify the main trends in environmental indicators of economic security: energy intensity, waste intensity and carbon intensity, etc.); grouping and classification (when studying the impact of the circular economy on economic security); method of comparison and expert assessments (to identify promising measures to promote the transition to a circular economy). Results and discussion. The introduction of the circular environmentally friendly production principles is one of the tasks for enhancing economic security. It leads to such affects: the energy dependence reduction of the economy, minimization of greenhouse gas emissions, reduction of waste landfills; reducing the extraction of exhaustive minerals, creating additional jobs in the regions and optimizing the costs of environmental protection measures (water treatment, waste processing, etc.). It is important to improve the system of indicators for assessing the development of the circular economy in Ukraine by applying the relevant indicators adopted in European practice. The key factors which justify an accelerating circular transition in Ukraine are, in particular, the strengthening of integration processes; industrial sector modernization; ensuring European standards for product quality and safety and environmental friendliness; the need to strengthen economic security and the adoption of numerous international agreements to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, etc. Conclusions. Transition to circular economical model in Ukraine depends on the implementation of a number of measures, the implementation of which will enhance economic security, in particular: introducing updated national waste management hierarchy in Ukraine and long-term waste management planning at the national, regional and local levels; facilitating preparations for the reuse of recyclables and energy resources; creation of cost-effective technologies for the processing of hard domestic waste with the receipt of a final product useful to society; improvement of existing logistical approaches to domestic waste management at the national and regional levels.

Fresh and hardened properties of self-compacting concrete containing recycled fine clay brick aggregates

Clay brick is one of the major components of demolition waste, which is generally landfilled. Effective and new uses of recycled clay brick may provide sustainability benefits in terms of landfill reduction. Therefore, this research aims at applying Recycled fine clay brick aggregates (RFCBA) with sizes from 0.075 mm–4.75 mm to prepare Self-compacting concrete (SCC). The effects of RFCBA on fresh and hardened properties of SCC were investigated. Saturated surface dry RFCBA was used to replace Natural fine aggregate (NFA) with the percentage of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, respectively, in making the SCC mixes. Although experimental results showed that the flowability, passing ability, and segregation resistance of SCC containing RFCBA (RFCBA-SCC) decreased with the increasing RFCBA content, these properties still satisfy the criteria of SCC. The compressive strength, splitting strength, flexural strength, and elastic modulus of the RFCBA-SCC mixes decreased with an increase of RFCBA content. Due to their porous nature, recycled fine clay brick aggregates may also be a source of additional water for internal curing. The internal curing effect was confirmed by the mercury intrusion porosimetry, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis measurements. Moreover, a significant autogenous shrinkage reduction of SCC is achieved by using the RFCBA due to the release of additional water pre-stored in the RFCBA. Therefore, it can be concluded that the addition of RFCBA to SCC mixtures can provide additional practical benefits in the hardened state.

A Semi Smart Adaptive Approach for Trash Classification

Waste management and recycling play a crucial factor in world economy sustainability as they prevent the squander of useful materials which can lead in garbage landfill reduction and cost reduction respectively. Garbage sorting into different categories plays an important role in recycling and waste management; but unfortunately, most garbage sorting still depends on labor which has a reverse impact on mankind and world economy, so there are different approaches to replace human separation by intelligent machines. In this article, we propose a comprehensive approach, Semi Smart Trash Separator to classify garbage and trash using the following technique: precycling by assigning a barcode or QR code to each material, which will enable the separation process as per assigned code; Magnetic separator helps in collecting conductive metal, then the non-conductive materials are classified according to their hardness. This test is a unique idea used in trash classification. Finally, if there is ambiguity in waste material classification barcode or material properties, the classification will be done using neural network techniques depending on the shapes of trash. Mat lab software is modified to handle convolutional neural networks in the image recognition (AlexNet and GoogLeNet) to be used in the trash classification processes and to test their accuracy. The tests are performed using a trustable data set. The material recognition accuracy rate from the obtained results on AlexNet and GoogLeNet are 75% and 83% respectively.

Synergistic effect of rice husk, glass and marble sludges on the engineering characteristics of eco-friendly bricks

Due to rapid population growth and industrialization, the generation of different industrial and agricultural wastes has surged in the past few decades. In this study, burnt clay bricks are prepared to investigate the synergistic and individual effect of glass sludge (GS), marble sludge (MS), and rice husk (RH) on the physical, mechanical, durability, and thermal properties of brick samples. Results show that the addition of waste materials (GS, MS, and RH) reduces the shrinkage, weight per unit area, and thermal conductivity of brick samples. All the brick samples incorporating different waste materials show efflorescence much lower than 10%. Furthermore, no brick sample faced any cracking even after 50 freeze-thaw cycles. The mass loss of brick samples incorporating 25% of GS is observed lower than the specified limit of ASTM C67 and are classified as freeze-thaw resistant brick samples. All the brick samples incorporating different waste materials satisfy the minimum compressive strength and modulus of rupture requirements for building bricks and can be used in a moderate weather-resistant environment, leading to sustainable masonry construction. Furthermore, all the brick samples show leaching toxicity values much lower than the specified limits of the Environmental Protection Agency. The scanning electron microscopic images also support the results of porosity and water absorption of brick samples observed in this study. Based on the results, all the combinations of waste materials considered in this study for making brick samples can be used for masonry construction leading towards landfill reduction and the production of eco-friendly bricks.

Mechanisms for supporting "Green Finance" in the world practice and in Kazakhstan

Object: To study the necessity of strengthen the role of "Green" financing in the economy of Kazakhstan, the most successful examples of financing and implementation of tools to support "Green" projects in more developed countries. Accordingly, the subject of the study is the financing of the "Green" economy in the world practice and in Kazakhstan.Methods: Abstract-logical, system analysis, comparative analysis.Findings: As a result of the study, development state of "Green" financing in Kazakhstan is assessed and the experiences of advanced countries are identified. Thus, in the course of analysis more advanced countries were identified, such as China, Korea, the United Kingdom, Canada and others, which have made some progress in the release of " Green tools implementation of electricity production from renewable sources, recycling of household waste and reduction of biodegradable landfills and formation of targeted environmental investment funds, etc. Obtained results indicate that Kazakhstan has not sufficiently addressed the aspects of economy related to sources of "Green" financing that contribute preservation of environmental quality in conditions of financial resources shortage and bringing it in line with the principles of sustainable development of the country. Also, the issue of "Green economy" is not sufficiently activated, which covers such categories as "Green" economy, "Green" credit, "Green" thinking, etc.The reached conclusions outlined in the study framework are in general nature, we simply set the task-to find out the current situation on this issue and continue to rethink the modern concepts of scientific approaches in this area.Conclusions: The development of Green finance in Kazakhstan and government support the Green incentives should be aimed at ensuring the sustainable development of the Green economy through:- creating an effective mechanism for implementing "Green" finance;- formation of management system for development of "Green" finance and its consolidation in legislative and regulatory acts.

Towards a Zero Waste city- an analysis from the perspective of energy recovery and landfill reduction in Beijing

Waste management has been one of the urgent environmental issues due to the rapid urbanization in China. There is a huge potential to improve the energy recovery efficiency of the current waste treatment system. This study aims to propose an efficient waste management system to reduce the landfill amount and improve the energy recovery rate (ERE) of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) treatment by considering environment, energy, economic, and policy effects. This study selects Beijing as a case study city and proposes four different MSW treatment scenarios. The landfill reduction amount, energy recovery efficiency, life cycle costs and benefits, and the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are evaluated. Furthermore, the impact of waste separation policy on the landfill amount, and the proposed internal rate of return (IRR) index are also quantified. The results show that the proposed scenarios can significantly reduce the amount of landfill. Scenario 4 (MBT system) ranks the highest, with a value of 92.69%. From the energy recovery and GHG emissions reduction perspectives, scenario 4 can achieve the highest energy recovery efficiency (65.33%) and the highest GHG emissions reduction (2.09 × 106 tons CO2e). From the economic perspective, scenario 3 can achieve the highest benefit with a value of 6.00 × 109 CNY. Such benefits are highly affected by the factors of the treatment capacity, the tipping fee and the power generation efficiency. With the continuous implementation of waste separation policy and waste-to-energy option in China, it is critical to assess the related environmental and economic benefits so that an efficient waste management system can be established.

Assessment of the Waste Management System in Krakow as an Element of Circular Economy

Abstract Building a waste management system requires considering many aspects for the assessment of its functioning. The transition from a linear system to a circular economy requires taking into account not only technological but also economic and social factors. The waste management system in Krakow is a comprehensive solution that considers all factors and aspects, allowing for the assessment of technology, economic justification of costs and social acceptance. The paper presents a comprehensive structure of the system with all the factors enabling the transition from a linear to a circular economy. In Kraków, over 200,000 tonnes of mixed waste are collected annually and almost 150,000 tonnes of selectively collected waste. Such potential allows for a landfill reduction below 10% by weight and the achievement of the required recycling levels.

Evaluation of leachate turbidity reduction in sanitary landfills following a coagulation/flocculation process enhanced by vegetable starch and thermal water

This study evaluates the reduction of leachate turbidity in landfills after applying a mixture of banana starch and thermal water. Principal component analysis was applied to study the combined effect with four variables: pH, concentration of starch and thermal water mixture, rapid mixing speed and slow mixing speed. The experimental design involved 16 experiments with repetition in the jar test to obtain the optimum dose while measuring turbidity as a response variable. The results showed that after the oxidation process of organic matter, under optimal conditions determined in the experiment, the mixture of starch and thermal water contributed to the reduction of leachate turbidity by 29.1%.

Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) by Haloferax mediterranei from Food Waste Derived Nutrients for Biodegradable Plastic Applications.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are a family of microbial polyesters that are used as biodegradable plastics in replacement of conventional plastics for various applications. However, the high production cost is the barrier for PHA market expansion. This study aimed to utilize food waste as low-cost feedstock to produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) by Haloferax mediterranei. The effects of acetate (Ac), propionate (Pr), butyrate (Bu), and the short-chain carboxylates derived from food waste were examined on the microbial growth and PHBV production. Results showed that a mixture of carboxylates provided a 55% higher PHBV yield than glucose. The food-waste-derived nutrients achieved the yields of 0.41 to 0.54 g PHBV/g Ac from initial loadings of 450 mg/l to 1,800 mg/l Ac of total carboxylates. And the consumption of individual carboxylate varied between different compositions of the carbon source. The present study demonstrates the potential of using food waste as feedstock to produce PHBV by Haloferax mediterranei, which can provide economic benefits to the current PHA industry. Meanwhile, it will also help promote organic waste reduction in landfills and waste management in general.

Tackling the issues of self‐compacting concrete containing high volume of waste glass aggregate by zeolite

AbstractThe use of waste glass in concrete can bring significant economic and environmental benefits due to reduction of landfills and demand for natural aggregates. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation on the feasibility of using high volume of waste glass as fine aggregate in self‐compacting concrete (SCC). A detailed investigation on fresh behavior of mixtures was performed by evaluating filling ability, stability, passing ability, and viscosity of SCC mixtures. Compressive strength and electrical resistivity experiments and scanning electron microscope analysis were also performed to investigate the strength and durability of the concrete mixtures. Furthermore, alkali silica reaction (ASR) potential of different size ranges of the used glass was assessed. The obtained results revealed that excessive bleeding and segregation and deleterious ASR expansion are possible challenges of incorporating fine glass aggregates in SCC. Interestingly, there was no evidence that glass has a considerable impact on the mechanical performance of concrete whereas it increased the electrical resistivity of concrete. Utilizing high volume of waste glass in SCC up to 600 kg/m3 became feasible when a part of portland cement was substituted with zeolite.

The impact of incineration phase-out on municipal solid waste landfilling and life cycle environmental performance: Case study of Madrid, Spain

Reducing the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) fed to incineration while enhancing source separation and biological treatments is being considered a mean to protect the environment and human health and promote recycling. However, such a strategy can compromises the landfill reduction targets while the associated environmental benefits remain so far unexplored and, in any case, any potential benefit should be evaluated for specific situations. In this study we applied material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantitatively evaluate the potential impact of phasing-out incineration in Madrid, Spain. The current MSW management system was assessed against future scenarios that describe the elimination of incineration as well as the increase of source separation, recycling, composting, and anaerobic digestion. The results revealed that incineration phase-out jeopardizes landfill reduction. However, phasing-out incineration can reduce the impact on acidification, terrestrial and marine eutrophication, photochemical ozone formation, human toxicity cancer effects, and ecotoxicity. The climate impact ranges from irrelevant to largely beneficial depending on how the biogenic carbon is considered. The transition towards a renewable electricity mix and the increase in source separation of biodegradable waste seriously compromise the climate benefits of incineration over landfilling. Overall, actions are required in order to align incineration phase-out with the landfill reduction objective, namely upgrading material recovery facilities to reduce rejects and seeking alternative pathways for the rejects that will always exist.