Plastic impurities in biowaste treatment: environmental and economic life cycle assessment of a composting plant.

The study focuses on an Italian composting plant and aims to investigate the impact of the presence of plastic impurities in the collected biowaste on the environmental and economic performance of the plant. The study is divided into two main steps: firstly, a material flow analysis was conducted to quantify the number of impurities (e.g., conventional plastics and compostable plastics) before and after the composting process. Secondly, a life cycle assessment (LCA) and a complementary life cycle costing (LCC) of the composting process were conducted. The results of the material flow analysis confirmed the initial assumption that conventional plastic remains almost constant before and after the composting treatment, while compostable plastic almost disappears. As far as the life cycle analyses are concerned, the most environmentally damaging phases of the process were the shredding and mixing phases, while the operating costs (OPEX) contributed the most to the total annual costs of the company. Finally, a further scenario analysis was performed, assuming that the plastic contaminants in the treated biowaste consisted exclusively of compostable plastics. The comparison with this ideal scenario can support decision-makers to understand the potential improvements achievable by addressing the presence of plastic impurities in the biowaste. The results show that the treatment of plastic impurities causes relevant environmental and economic impacts, being responsible for 46% of the total waste to treat at the end of the process, almost 7% of the total annual costs covered by the plant owners, and about 30% of all negative externalities.

Door-to-door waste collection: A framework for the socio - Economic evaluation and ergonomics optimisation.

Waste collection is the first step of waste management, and its characteristics impact workers' health and safety. Arising out of the challenge for waste collection operators to design sustainable systems of work, the authors review the literature on ergonomics and socio-economic sustainability and design a theoretical framework for assessing the sustainability of waste collection. The framework quantitatively assess the impact of the door-to-door collection system on the health and safety of the workers to provide indications to waste collection operators on how the load carried by workers can be minimised and the economic and social sustainability can be improved. As a case study, this paper investigates the musculoskeletal disorders derived from the manual material handling of waste containers affecting the workers in charge of door-to-door sorted collection of paper waste with the goal of optimizing the workers well-being and overall waste collection system performance The research study was conducted in collaboration with a company which operates in solid waste collection for Italian municipalities. For this purpose, the ergo-quality level of two paper waste collection systems is evaluated. For each system, ten scenarios of door-to-door paper waste collection are considered. The analysis is complemented by an economic analysis, which estimates the costs associated with the collection system under consideration, and a social life-cycle assessment. Results suggest that using 120-litres capacity bins would effectively improve ergonomics and optimise the costs of the investigated activity. More specifically, due to mechanised collection, the more limited number of lifting and carrying operations would expose the workers to lower ergonomic risk.

Assessing the externalities of a waste management system via life cycle costing: The case study of the Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy).

Effective and efficient urban waste management systems (WMSs) are a cornerstone for a sustainable society. Life cycle costing (LCC) provides a useful framework for the joint analysis of economic and environmental impacts of a WMS, by considering both financial and external costs. The present study applies the methodology of societal LCC to the WMS of the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna to provide a case study on how the available information on waste flows and budget costs of a real WMS can be used to obtain an estimate of the total cost of waste management, including externalities. The results evidence that the main source of negative externality in the analyzed WMS is the transportation of waste, with only a minor role of external burdens due to incinerators and landfills. However, the positive externality resulting from recycling more than compensates those impacts, leading to a net external benefit associated to the WMS. The contribution of both uncertain unit external costs and environmental benefits imputable to recycled materials to the overall uncertainty of the result is systematically investigated by parametric uncertainty analysis. The most critical parameters in determining the sensitivity of the result are the monetary values attributed to primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions, together with assumptions on energy savings related to recycling. Eventually, it is shown how the developed LCC model can be used as decision-support tool to preliminarily investigate the implications of alternative management options on the financial and external costs of the WMS.

Municipal solid waste collection systems: An indicator to assess the reusability of products.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Formula: see text].

A framework for sustainability assessment and prioritisation of urban waste prevention measures.

Waste prevention (WP) can play a significant role in pursuing both sustainable development and decarbonization. Nevertheless, a general method to monitor and evaluate WP does not exist yet. This study proposes a framework for the sustainability assessment and prioritisation of waste prevention measures (WPMs), at consumption level. Firstly, some WPMs are selected, based on relevant criteria. Secondly, their impacts are assessed, in terms of environmental, economic, and social sustainability, in a life-cycle perspective. Then, a set of significant effectiveness and efficiency indicators are chosen and calculated. Finally, an algorithm for the prioritisation is proposed. This methodological approach might be useful to guide the financing choices of the public decision-makers, to assess and promote WPMs, and to develop WP strategies. Moreover, the results can be used in waste management planning and to motivate local actors through benchmarking. The designed framework has been applied to 17 projects implemented by Municipalities in the Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy), as case study. The projects, whose aim is the reduction of waste from plastic disposable goods, can be grouped in three different categories: i) drinking water dispensers in towns/cities, ii) drinking water dispensers in schools and iii) replacement of disposable goods in school canteens. The project category of drinking water dispensers in towns proved to be the most sustainable one, achieving a score of 0,4265, while the other categories scored around 0,28. The study confirms that WP should be promoted, despite being very difficult to monitor. The political institutions should invest in implementing a specific monitoring system, also able to reveal potential integration of WP strategies with other policy areas. Finally, an improved institutional framework might help the Municipalities in overcoming barriers to the identification and implementation of WPMs, by allowing for coordination and networking of individual projects and by encouraging the spread of good practices.

Municipal solid waste prevention: A review of market-based instruments in six European Union countries.

This article focuses on quantitative prevention of municipal solid waste among the 28 member countries of the European Union. A strict definition of waste prevention is used, including waste avoidance, waste reduction at source or in process, and product reuse, while recycling is outside the scope of this article. In order to provide a solid overview of the European situation, the study selected six countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain). Several selection requirements have been considered, such as geographic location or municipal solid waste per capita production trends from 1995 to 2017. A review of prevention programmes and other national strategic documents has been conducted. Extended producer responsibility, Pay-As-You-Throw schemes, Deposit-Refund Systems and Environmental Taxes implementation among the selected countries have been studied in order to understand how these market-based instruments can be used for the sake of waste prevention. Each market-based instrument has been further analysed using the Drivers Pressures State Impact Response model. Based on the results of this study, the effectiveness of market-based instruments implementation is strictly related to the context they are enforced in. It is particularly important to tailor the market-based instruments based on the implementation area. Nevertheless, market-based instruments, which are now mostly meant to boost the recycling sector of the considered Member States, should be designed to improve waste prevention performances, ensuring the achievement of the highest level of waste hierarchy promoted by the European Union.