Using life-cycle management to evaluate integrated municipal solid waste management strategies
- Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
- North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
- Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
Communities throughout the United States are struggling to develop efficient and cost-effective plans for managing their MSW. In the past, these plans primarily consisted of waste collection and disposal at a local landfill. Today`s MSW management plans often include integrated systems that address all types of solid waste materials, solid waste sources, and waste management options. Developing more efficient integrated MSW management plans necessarily involves complex decisions where tradeoffs between environment, performance, and cost, and must be carefully analyzed. For instance, how does the cost and environmental performance of a MSW management system change if one includes or excludes a specific material (e.g., glass, paper, plastic, metal) from the recycling program? And should one recycle newsprint if you are interested in waste-to-energy combustion? To better evaluate the tradeoffs involved with these types of questions, the entire life cycle of MSW must be considered. The life cycle of MSW starts with the production of products from virgin and/or recycled materials. Eventually, these products are discarded to the MSW stream and may be managed through a variety of options such as recycling, combustion, composting, and landfilling. Materials that are recovered and recycled are incorporated into new products and will eventually reenter the MSW stream. By taking a life-cycle perspective, it is possible to capture tradeoffs and transfers of environmental burdens from one waste management operation to another, or from one life-cycle stage to another, and analyze multiple system design issues concurrently.
- Research Organization:
- Solid Waste Association of North America, Silver Spring, MD (United States); Air and Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Integrated Waste Services Association, Washington, DC (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States); American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Yonkers, NY (United States). Solid Waste Processing Div.; Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States). Air Pollution Technology Branch
- OSTI ID:
- 548925
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970440--; ON: DE97007054
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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