Proposal of an environmental performance index to assess solid waste treatment technologies
- Federal University of Minas Gerais, School of Engineering, Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Bloco 2, Sala 4628, Av. Antonio Carlos, 6627 Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, CEP 30.270-901 (Brazil)
- Ecole des Ponts ParisTech 6 et 8 avenue Blaise-Pascal, Cite Descartes Champs-sur-Marne, 77455, Marne-la-Vallee (France)
Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Proposal of a new concept in waste management: Cleaner Treatment. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Development of an index to assess quantitatively waste treatment technologies. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Delphi Method was carried out so as to define environmental indicators. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Environmental performance evaluation of waste-to-energy plants. - Abstract: Although the concern with sustainable development and environment protection has considerably grown in the last years it is noted that the majority of decision making models and tools are still either excessively tied to economic aspects or geared to the production process. Moreover, existing models focus on the priority steps of solid waste management, beyond waste energy recovery and disposal. So, in order to help the lack of models and tools aiming at the waste treatment and final disposal, a new concept is proposed: the Cleaner Treatment, which is based on the Cleaner Production principles. This paper focuses on the development and validation of the Cleaner Treatment Index (CTI), to assess environmental performance of waste treatment technologies based on the Cleaner Treatment concept. The index is formed by aggregation (summation or product) of several indicators that consists in operational parameters. The weights of the indicator were established by Delphi Method and Brazilian Environmental Laws. In addition, sensitivity analyses were carried out comparing both aggregation methods. Finally, index validation was carried out by applying the CTI to 10 waste-to-energy plants data. From sensitivity analysis and validation results it is possible to infer that summation model is the most suitable aggregation method. For summation method, CTI results were superior to 0.5 (in a scale from 0 to 1) for most facilities evaluated. So, this study demonstrates that CTI is a simple and robust tool to assess and compare the environmental performance of different treatment plants being an excellent quantitative tool to support Cleaner Treatment implementation.
- OSTI ID:
- 21612998
- Journal Information:
- Waste Management, Vol. 32, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2012.03.001; PII: S0956-053X(12)00083-9; Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0956-053X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AGGLOMERATION
DELPHI METHOD
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
IMPLEMENTATION
PERFORMANCE
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
SOLID WASTES
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
VALIDATION
WASTE PROCESSING
FORECASTING
MANAGEMENT
PROCESSING
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
TESTING
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES