1 st International EIMPack Congress 2012 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF WASTE MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS Sandra Ferreira Marta Cabral Nuno Cruz Pedro Simões Rui Cunha Marques Lisbon, 29 November 2012
EIMPack: Economic Impact of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive Objectives Ex-post evaluation of Directive 94/62/EC (challenging recovery and recycling rates) How have the distribution of costs been managed among the multiple stakeholders? What is the Economic Rate of Return of the enhanced environmental protection? 2
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) It is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated to a product, service or process. ISO 14040:2006 describes the principles and framework for LCA including: definition of the goal and scope Goal Definition and Scope of the LCA; life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase; Inventory Analysis Interpretation Direct application life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase; life cycle interpretation phase. Impact Assessment 3
WASTE LCA
LCA vs Waste-LCA Raw materials Product manufacture Final disposal/recycling Use Waste collection 5
Waste LCA - Softwares LCA softwares: Around 50 LCA models are currently available in Europe, ex: Simapro and GaBi WASTE LCA Softwares LCA MODEL COUNTRY EASEWASTE Denmark EPIC/CSR Canada IWM2 UK LCA-IWM EU ORWARE Sweden WISARD UK WRATE UK FENIX Portugal+Spain Country-specific 6
Characterization Impacts categories LCIA method LCI Global Warming (kg CO 2 eq) Acidification (kg SO 2 ) Eutrophication potential (kg PO 4 eq) Ozone depletion (kg CFC-11 eq) Photochemical oxidation (kg C 2 H 2 eq) CML 2002 [Guinée et al., 2002] Human toxicity (CTUh) Ecotoxicity (CTUe) USETox [Rosenbaum et al., 2008] 7
Waste Management Operations Energy Heat Landfill Electricity Refuse Collection Incinerator Ash/ residues Utilisation or disposal Compost Steel Recycling Household waste Recycling Aluminium Recycling Selective Collection Sorting Recycling 8
Drop-off centre Waste Collection Composting Incineration Recycling Sorting station Landfilling Main option Composting Incineration Recy Alternative options Costs to determine Refuse waste collection Bring system K Drop-off centre Main option Bring system Kerbside Alternative options Costs to determine Sorting station T e Selective waste collection Sorting station Transfer station Composting Incineration Recyc 9
Waste Collection Waste collection is often modelled as a simple transport system. The parameters are the mass of transported waste and the total distance of the collection route; There are many more variables affecting fuel consumption and the emissions of the collection system: Type of truck; Number and type of containers (volume, material). Point of unloading Starting point Collection points 10
Waste Collection Fuel consumption/emissions varies. For example, Larsen et al. (2009) showed that for two municipalities in Denmark fuel consumption varied between 1.4 and 10.1 L diesel per tonne of refuse waste collected and transported by road. It can be estimated by models and softwares: MEET COPERT 4 Emission factors (EEA) Data collection Emission factors (annual consumption) COPERT 4 (total vehicle mass, fuel, speed) 11
Waste Treatment - Incineration Slag Magnetic separation Recycling MSW Ancillary materials Incineration plant Ash Landfill Energy Air emissions Data collected from local authorities 12
Waste Treatment - Landfill Emissions Electricity generation Emissions Uncollected landfill gas Collected Landfill gas Flare Emissions Landfill Leachate Pre-treatment Leachate Treatment Uncollected leachate Collected leachate Discharge (water emission) Emissions 13
Waste Treatment - Landfill Landfill gas Methane (CH4) 45-60% Carbon dioxide (CO2) 40-55% Global Warming Potential (GWP) Trace components (H2S, HCl, SO2, VOCs, etc) Biogenic food, paper CO2 Fossil plastic and textiles GWP 14
Waste Treatment - Landfill Models to calculate air emissions (GHG) from landfill: IPCC model (IPCC) GasSim Lite (Golder Associates) Landgem (US-EPA) French E PRTR model (Ademe) Scholl-Canyon model Little information available 15
Waste Treatment - Landfill Scholl-Canyon model Q CH4 (tonnes) = k x Lo x mi x e kt Lo (kg CH4/t) generation potential; k - CH4 generation constant; i - year of waste disposal; t - years after closure. Other models US EPA (2008) Ecoinvent landfill models (2009) 16
Externalities External costs (negative impact) Costs of emissions to air, soil and water Costs of resource depletion Disamenity costs Avoided costs with the electricity production from an External benefits (positive impact) alternative energy (waste to energy, WTE) Avoided costs using the recovered materials in the manufacture of new products 17
CASE STUDY - PORTUGAL
Case Study - Portugal Year = 2010 23 Local Regional Systems - mainland 4 Local Regional Systems - islands MSW Landfills = 42 Incinerators = 3 19
Case Study - Portugal LCI Data collected from local authorities Environmental impacts Valuation Costs and Benefits ( ) 20
Case Study - Portugal External benefits /tonne External costs Other benefits (opportunity costs) Subsidies to the investment Other revenues (non-packaging material) Sale of packaging material Financial support Return on capital Depreciation of assets Operational costs 21
Thank you! http://eimpack.ist.utl.pt 22