Application of Life-cycle assessment in optimization of municipal waste management systems

In the EU, regions have the responsibility to organize solid waste management. It is not uncommon that smaller municipalities lack a clear understanding of environmental and economic implications of different elements of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, which sometimes leads to sub-optimal strategic decisions. The GP reveals use of the Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology based on the procedure and recommendations indicated in the European standards series – ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 to build a model and test different waste management scenarios in order to see whether the waste management hierarchy is influenced by regional conditions. The study also tests to which variables in waste management systems the results of the LCA are most sensitive. The discussion is built around a case study in Alytus (Lithuania) where several waste management scenarios have been analyzed and compared in the LCA framework. The GP educe several methodology related issues and discusses what implications waste related policy intervention would have on the environmental outcomes of different waste management scenarios. The analysis included parameters defining the basic environmental impacts and the amount of waste. The purpose of the Good practice (GP) is to help local decision-makers in designing integrated waste management solutions that are optimal from the environment point of view. The GP is based on a case study, where several waste management scenarios were analyzed.