Life cycle assessment for waste management
Journal Article
·
· Waste Management
- Univ. of Leeds (United Kingdom). Dept. of Civil Engineering
- Aspinwall and Co., Shrewsbury (United Kingdom)
Standard methods for assessing the environmental impact of waste management systems are needed to underpin the development and implementation of sustainable waste management practices. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an emerging tool for ensuring such assessment is comprehensive and covers the full cradle to grave impacts associated with providing a product or service. This paper discusses aspects of a recent study commissioned by the UK Department of the Environment to assess how LCA methodology could be developed and applied to assist decision makers in waste management. It focuses on a method developed by the research contractors for identifying the environmental burdens that occur during the collection, treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste. The method requires waste management activities to be defined as generic unit operations which are independent of the specific characteristics of the waste processed. These unit operations are used to flowsheet the specific system under study and burdens that are independent of the waste are identified. Waste-dependent burdens are identified separately by considering the interaction of unit operations and the specific characteristics exhibited by the waste under study. For identification purposes a restricted list of 10 characteristics is considered sufficient to highlight those burdens for which inventory data may be required. Comment is made on the potential to develop the identification method to provide quantified data for the burden inventory.
- OSTI ID:
- 464819
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9509276--
- Journal Information:
- Waste Management, Journal Name: Waste Management Journal Issue: 1-3 Vol. 16; ISSN WAMAE2; ISSN 0956-053X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Choosing Your Nuclear Fuel Cycle: A Life Cycle Assessment Perspective - 16425
Gate-to-Grave Life Cycle Analysis Model of Saline Aquifer Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide
Gate-to-Grave Life Cycle Analysis Model of Saline Aquifer Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide [Slides]
Conference
·
Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016
·
OSTI ID:22838228
Gate-to-Grave Life Cycle Analysis Model of Saline Aquifer Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide
Technical Report
·
Mon Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2013
·
OSTI ID:1515271
Gate-to-Grave Life Cycle Analysis Model of Saline Aquifer Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide [Slides]
Technical Report
·
Mon Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2013
·
OSTI ID:1526698