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Accounting for transportation impacts in the environmental assessment of waste management plans

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The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background, aim, and scope

Many recent studies on waste management have described in detail the potential impacts of recycling and final treatment of municipal waste. In public debates, the attention has also been focused on the choice of final disposal technologies (e.g. landfilling vs. incineration). However, a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of waste collection and transport was still lacking. In the present study, we use LCA to evaluate the potential impact of the provincial waste management plan of Varese (northern Italy). Particular attention is devoted to the estimation of environmental impacts generated during waste transport.

Materials and methods

A detailed Life Cycle Inventory was built for the transportation phase, based on primary data collected by interviewing the agencies involved in waste collection. To model the recycling and final disposal phase we relied on the BUWAL 250 database. Impacts were evaluated with the Eco-Indicator 99 method in its egalitarian formulation.

Results

The results of our analysis reveal that the major potential impacts of the plan are associated with waste collection and transport. These impacts are partially compensated by reduced resource consumption through recycling and energy recovery through incineration.

Discussion

The outputs of the LCIA were compared with those obtained by using other ecoindicators (Eco-Indicator 99 hierarchist and individualist, CML2, EPS2000). Although not comparable on a quantitative basis, they are qualitatively consistent.

Conclusions

Neglecting the effects of collection and transport might result in a severe underestimation of the environmental impacts of a waste management system, especially as refers to depletion of fossil fuels, emission of respiratory inorganics and climate change. To reduce the environmental impact of waste management systems, an accurate optimisation of waste transport is required.

Recommendations and perspectives

Effective waste management planning requires the explicit inclusion of waste collection and transport when comparing alternative management policies.

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Abbreviations

CML2:

CML2 baseline 2000

EI99:

Eco-Indicator 99

EI99e:

Eco-Indicator 99 egalitarian

LCA:

life cycle assessment

LCIA:

life cycle impact assessment

MSW:

municipal solid waste

PPPs:

policies, plans and programmes

PWMP:

provincial waste management plan

RFD:

recycling or final disposal

WCT:

waste collection and transport

WMS:

waste management system

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Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to Göran Finnveden and two anonymous reviewers for valuable suggestions leading to an improved final draft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica ‘Giulio Natta’, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20123, Milano, Italy

    Emanuele Brambilla Pisoni, Roberto Raccanelli, Giovanni Dotelli & Donatella Botta

  2. Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano, Via Ponzio 34/5, 20133, Milano, Italy

    Paco Melià

Authors
  1. Emanuele Brambilla Pisoni
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  2. Roberto Raccanelli
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  3. Giovanni Dotelli
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  4. Donatella Botta
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  5. Paco Melià
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paco Melià.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Göran Finnveden

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Brambilla Pisoni, E., Raccanelli, R., Dotelli, G. et al. Accounting for transportation impacts in the environmental assessment of waste management plans. Int J Life Cycle Assess 14, 248–256 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-009-0061-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-009-0061-0

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