Environmental impact assessment of solid waste management in Beijing City, China

Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Waste Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2010.11.007· OSTI ID:21550363

Yan, Zhao ^[1]; Christensen, Thomas H ^[2]; Wenjing, Lu; Huayong, Wu ^[1]

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1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing (China)
2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby (Denmark)

The environmental impacts of municipal solid waste management in Beijing City were evaluated using a life-cycle-based model, EASEWASTE, to take into account waste generation, collection, transportation, treatment/disposal technologies, and savings obtained by energy and material recovery. The current system, mainly involving the use of landfills, has manifested significant adverse environmental impacts caused by methane emissions from landfills and many other emissions from transfer stations. A short-term future scenario, where some of the landfills (which soon will reach their capacity because of rising amount of waste in Beijing City) are substituted by incinerators with energy recovery, would not result in significant environmental improvement. This is primarily because of the low calorific value of mixed waste, and it is likely that the incinerators would require significant amounts of auxiliary fuels to support combustion of wet waste. As for the long-term future scenario, efficient source separation of food waste could result in significant environmental improvements, primarily because of increase in calorific value of remaining waste incinerated with energy recovery. Sensitivity analysis emphasized the importance of efficient source separation of food waste, as well as the electricity recovery in incinerators, in order to obtain an environmentally friendly waste management system in Beijing City.

• OSTI ID: 21550363
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Journal Name: Waste Management Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 31; ISSN WAMAE2; ISSN 0956-053X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ALKANES
ASIA
CALORIFIC VALUE
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHINA
COMBUSTION
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
DOCUMENT TYPES
ENERGY RECOVERY
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FUELS
GREENHOUSE GASES
HYDROCARBONS
INCINERATORS
LIFE CYCLE
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS RECOVERY
METHANE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
PROCESSING
SANITARY LANDFILLS
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
SOLID WASTES
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
URBAN AREAS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES