You are here:
Life Cycle Comparison of Waste-to-Energy to Sanitary Landfill
Citation:
Kaplan, O., J. DeCarolis, AND M. A. Barlaz. Life Cycle Comparison of Waste-to-Energy to Sanitary Landfill. Chapter N/A, R. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Sustainability of Science and Technology. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, , 5909-5934, (2012).
Impact/Purpose:
encyclopedia entry, Springer's Encyclopedia of Sustainability of Science and Technology
Description:
Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to evaluate the environmental footprint of products, processes, and services. An LCA allows decision makers to compare products and processes through systematic evaluation of supply chains. Also known as a “cradle-to-grave” approach, LCA evaluates each stage of life for a given product or process, which includes extraction of the raw materials, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, use, and final disposal. LCA has been widely utilized to analyze different solid waste management alternatives. In the U.S., 220 million Mg (1 Mg = 1 metric ton) of municipal solid waste (MSW) was generated in 2009, of which only 32% was recycled, and 13% was combusted with energy recovery. Despite resource conservation efforts, nearly 55% of the MSW (i.e., 151 million Mg) was discarded in landfills. These figures are significantly different from those in other countries such as Denmark, where only 4% of the MSW generated was disposed in landfills. The remaining 96% is recycled or combusted for energy recovery. There is an ongoing debate about the relative environmental merits of landfill disposal versus waste-to-energy (WTE). This paper finds that the relative emissions associated with both options are highly sensitive to the input data in the life-cycle inventory (LCI). In 2009, about 220 million Mg (1 Mg = 1 metric ton) of municipal solid waste (MSW) was generated in the United States, which translates to 2.1 kg per capita per day generation. While per capita generation has been relatively constant for the past decade, the absolute amount of MSW generated is increasing due to population growth. In 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Resource Conservation Challenge to increase the nation-wide recycling rate to 35%. The challenge encourages pollution prevention, resource conservation, efficient use of materials, and a materials management approach to waste management. Current recycling and composting rates in the U.S. have almost reached the 35% goal. In addition, 13% of MSW is combusted in WTE facilities. The rest of the MSW, totaling 151 million• Mg, is disposed in landfills. The U.S. public generally perceives solid waste combustion as hazardous and toxic, due mainly to the poor environmental performance of incineration facilities in the early 1990s, which lacked air pollution control systems (APCS). While there is public resistance to the siting of new WTE facilities, the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires that all WTE facilities in the U.S. have APCS installed. In 2010, there were 86 WTE plants operating in 24 states with continuous emission monitoring. In addition, each facility is required to submit the result of an annual stack test to measure performance and demonstrate compliance with regulations.
URLs/Downloads:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5820-3_409