Continuous growth in the quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) and increasing demands for their environmentally-friendly treatment are one of the main consequences of the growing social and economic development rate in modern society. Despite ecologically sustainable trends in waste management systems around the world, open dumps are still the main waste treatment option in Russia. This study aims to help the local municipality administration in Irkutsk (Russia) identify the most appropriate direction for current waste management and its optimization. Within this study four developed MSW management scenarios were assessed and compared with respect to their ecological, economic and social aspects using a life cycle-based integrated waste management model. The evaluation results of these scenarios show that the development of environmental sustainability and the reduction of social effects lead to an increase in handling of costs of waste. The best scenario, regarding both environmental and social aspects, is scenario four, which includes the separate collection and reprocessing of recyclables in combination with an aerobic mechanical-biological pre-treatment of the residual waste before landfilling. However, this scenario is 3.6 times more expensive than the existing system. The results of all assessed scenarios were further analyzed and recommendations were made to design integrated waste management solutions that are optimal not only from the ecological and social points of view, but which are also realistic within the given economic situation.

In many countries, local authorities are typically responsible for the development of a waste management plan and often have to work around difficult conditions, such as poor infrastructure, isolated locations and severe climate conditions as well as inadequate budgets. Analyses of municipal solid waste (MSW) are a crucial prerequisite to the development of sustainable waste management plans. Consequently, the selection of an appropriate tool for waste analysis is significant. To that end, three different research projects were implemented to test the viability of various waste analysis tools. The strengths and weaknesses of each tool are discussed in this paper. The overall objective of this study is to assist decision makers internationally in the planning and development of MSW management, specifically with regard to choosing tools for waste analysis. Thus, recommendations for optimal implementation of waste analysis of MSW by local authorities were developed.