A master thesis from Aalborg University
Life Cycle Assessment of Municipal Waste Management: Improving on the Waste Hierarchy
Author(s)
Term
10. term
Education
Publication year
2010
Submitted on
2010-08-10
Pages
97 pages
Abstract
EU's affaldspolitik opfordrer i øjeblikket alle medlemslande til at mindske miljøbelastningen fra affaldshåndtering ved at begrænse mængden af affald, der kan deponeres, og i stedet opfordre til udviklingen af teknologier og planlægningsmuligheder, der er placeret højere i affaldshierarkiet end deponering. Denne rapport undersøger brugen af livscyklusvurdering (LCA) som et planlægningsværktøj, der kan anvendes i forbindelse med affaldshierarkiet med henblik på at identificere den affaldshåndteringsløsning, der giver det bedste miljømæssige resultat for forvaltningsplaner af dagrenovation. En LCA-undersøgelse til håndtering af husholdningernes madaffald i Aalborg Kommune er udført. I LCA’en sammenlignes et forbrændings scenario med et bioforgasnings scenario. Begge disse muligheder anses for at være nyttiggørelsesoperationer, og teknologierne optræder side om side i affaldshierarkiet. Resultaterne af undersøgelsen viser, at LCA kan være et nyttigt redskab til udarbejdelse af kommunale planer for affaldshåndtering, når det anvendes i forbindelse med affaldshierarkiet, da det giver kommunerne mulighed for direkte at sammenligne de faktiske miljøpåvirkninger af forskellige teknologier og planlægningsmuligheder. Desuden kan udarbejdelsen af konsekvent LCA gennem systemudvidelse tilskynde kommunerne til at integrere affaldshåndtering med processer i andre sektorer.
EU waste policy is currently encouraging all Member States to decrease the environmental impacts of waste management by restricting the amount of waste that can be landfilled, and instead encouraging technologies and management options that are placed higher on the waste hierarchy. This report investigates the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a planning tool to be used in conjunction with the waste hierarchy in order to identify the waste management option that provides the best environmental outcome for municipal waste management plans. An LCA study is performed for household food waste management in the City of Aalborg, Denmark. In the LCA an incineration scenario is compared with an anaerobic digestion scenario. Both of these options are considered to be recovery operations and the technologies appear side-by-side in the waste hierarchy. The results of the LCA show that when applied in conjunction with the waste hierarchy, LCA can be a useful tool for the planning of municipal waste management plans as it allows municipalities to directly compare the actual environmental impacts of different technologies and planning options. Furthermore, through system expansion a consequential approach to LCA may encourage municipalities to integrate waste management with processes in other sectors.
Documents
Colophon: This page is part of the AAU Student Projects portal, which is run by Aalborg University. Here, you can find and download publicly available bachelor's theses and master's projects from across the university dating from 2008 onwards. Student projects from before 2008 are available in printed form at Aalborg University Library.
If you have any questions about AAU Student Projects or the research registration, dissemination and analysis at Aalborg University, please feel free to contact the VBN team. You can also find more information in the AAU Student Projects FAQs.