Home composting as an alternative treatment option for organic household waste in Denmark: An environmental assessment using life cycle assessment-modelling

Journal Article · Sun Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Waste Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2011.09.014· OSTI ID:21612925

Andersen, J K; Boldrin, A; Christensen, T H ^[1]; Scheutz, C ^[1]

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1. Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby (Denmark)

An environmental assessment of the management of organic household waste (OHW) was performed from a life cycle perspective by means of the waste-life cycle assessment (LCA) model EASEWASTE. The focus was on home composting of OHW in Denmark and six different home composting units (with different input and different mixing frequencies) were modelled. In addition, incineration and landfilling was modelled as alternatives to home composting. The most important processes contributing to the environmental impact of home composting were identified as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (load) and the avoided emissions in relation to the substitution of fertiliser and peat when compost was used in hobby gardening (saving). The replacement of fertiliser and peat was also identified as one of the most sensible parameters, which could potentially have a significant environmental benefit. Many of the impact categories (especially human toxicity via water (HTw) and soil (HTs)) were affected by the heavy metal contents of the incoming OHW. The concentrations of heavy metals in the compost were below the threshold values for compost used on land and were thus not considered to constitute a problem. The GHG emissions were, on the other hand, dependent on the management of the composting units. The frequently mixed composting units had the highest GHG emissions. The environmental profiles of the home composting scenarios were in the order of -2 to 16 milli person equivalents (mPE) Mg{sup -1} wet waste (ww) for the non-toxic categories and -0.9 to 28 mPE Mg{sup -1} ww for the toxic categories. Home composting performed better than or as good as incineration and landfilling in several of the potential impact categories. One exception was the global warming (GW) category, in which incineration performed better due to the substitution of heat and electricity based on fossil fuels.

• OSTI ID: 21612925
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Journal Name: Waste Management Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 32; ISSN WAMAE2; ISSN 0956-053X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
CLIMATIC CHANGE
COMPOSTING
DENMARK
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EUROPE
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GARDENING
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
GREENHOUSE GASES
HEAVY METALS
HOUSEHOLDS
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
MANAGEMENT
MATTER
METALS
ORGANIC MATTER
ORGANIC WASTES
PEAT
POLLUTION
PROCESSING
SCANDINAVIA
SOILS
SOLID FUELS
TOXICITY
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
WATER POLLUTION
WESTERN EUROPE