Record Details

Application of life cycle assessment in municipal solid waste management: A worldwide critical review

IR@CSIR-NEERI

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title Application of life cycle assessment in municipal solid waste management: A worldwide critical review
 
Creator Khandelwal, Harshit
Dhar, Hiya
Thalla, Aru Kumar
Kumar, Sunil
 
Subject Solid Waste Treatment & Disposal
 
Description The whopping increase in solid waste generation all over the world calls for the development of waste
management strategies for a sustainable environment. By the quantification of environmental impacts,
life cycle assessment (LCA) tool can help in answering the call. It evaluates the environmental performance
of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system which helps decision-maker in selecting
the best management strategy with minimum impacts on the environment. But, up to what extent the
LCA methodology can be applied to MSWM systems? To address this question, the present study
analyzed the 153 LCA studies published till date since 2013 all over the world. The present study
analyzed the time evolution, geographical distribution, and methodology applied in LCA studies. It
summarized the use of the functional unit, LCA model, Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method,
MSWM options, and the critical findings of the selected LCAs, along with MSW composition, income
group, and the gaps in the application of the studies. For evaluating the dependence of publication of
studies and country's economic condition, the countries in which LCA studies were conducted are
classified into four groups on the basis of income level viz., lower income, lower middle income, upper
middle income, and higher income countries. In terms of technological coverage, 1 ton of MSW was the
most used functional unit. SimaPro was the majorly used LCA model while 56 of the total studies didn't
mention about the use of LCA model, only 66 of the total studies included sensitivity analysis in the
assessment. Integrated solid waste management was found to be the most preferred waste management
option. Also, a very limited number of studies have included life cycle costing and social aspects of
MSWM system. The results indicated that the majority of the LCA studies are based in Europe and Asia.
Shockingly, 178 out of the total countries in the world have not published a single LCA study on MSWM
since 2013. Also, it was found that the effect of increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the publication
of LCA studies is irrelevant, possible reasons being the lack of data, time and economic constraints.
Establishment of environment-friendly policies and initiatives by the Government along with the
participation of public, non-government and private organizations through training courses and seminars
might help in improving the LCA applicability in the field of MSWM.
 
Publisher Elsevier
 
Date 2019
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://neeri.csircentral.net/1168/1/2019_1-s2.0-S0959652618332591-main.pdf
Khandelwal, Harshit and Dhar, Hiya and Thalla, Aru Kumar and Kumar, Sunil (2019) Application of life cycle assessment in municipal solid waste management: A worldwide critical review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 209. pp. 630-654. ISSN 0959-6526, ESSN: 1879-1786
 
Relation http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro
http://neeri.csircentral.net/1168/