Economic analysis and life cycle impact assessment of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal: A case study of Mumbai, India

Abstract

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a major concern in Indian cities. This work rigorously assesses the relative costs and the environmental and health benefits of alternative MSW management methods. Management of MSW over the next 20 years for the city of Greater Mumbai was considered. A generic model was developed to determine the costs for (i) dumping on open ground, (ii) sanitary landfill without leachate treatment, (iii) landfilling with leachate treatment and (iv) regional composting and landfilling. LandGEM was used to quantify the gaseous emissions from landfill, while emissions from leachate and composting were taken from literature. The life cycle impact model of one tonne of MSW was developed using OpenLCA software and the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) 2011 method was used for impact assessment. The cost of disposal of one tonne of waste was found to be INR344 (US$5.17), INR741 (US$11.13) and INR1367 (US$20.53), respectively, for the first three scenarios. As compared to open dumping, landfill gas flaring reduced the global warming potential by 32% and leachate treatment reduced freshwater ecotoxicity and total human toxicity marginally, by 20% and 60%, respectively. Composting-landfilling was the most preferred option, with a cost of INR531 tonne (US$7.97), leading to a reduction in global warming potential by 79% and a slight decrease in freshwater ecotoxicity by 64%. Further, emissions due to accidental fires were also quantified. The study provides valuable insights for the selection of MSW management options for large metropolitan cities in developing countries.

Potential Greenhouse Gas Mitigation for Converting High Moisture Food Waste into Bio-Coal from Hydrothermal Carbonisation in India, Europe and China

“…Construction emissions were considered for landfilling, but not HTC, as it was assumed that HC would be used in existing coal-fired power plants to generate energy [58]. Onsite heat and electricity use, as well as offsite transport emissions were excluded, however, as it was assumed that associated emissions would be similar for both HTC and landfilling of FW [59].…”

Social Cost Benefit Analysis of Operating Compressed Biomethane (CBM) Transit Buses in Cities of Developing Nations: A Case Study

“…The study is modeled with SimaPro-PhD version 8.2 [42], LCA software package. The upstream LCI data is obtained from Ecoinvent database [29], whereas the data for open dumping of MSW (food waste is part of MSW in India) is obtained from literature [43,44].…”

International Solid Waste Association’s “closing dumpsites” initiative: status of progress

“…Waste Management & Research (WM&R) has published many papers addressing open dump issues, including Blight (2008), Cardarelli and Di Filippo (2004), Mehta et al (2018), and Sharma and Chandel (2017). Researchers are encouraged to continue conducting and reporting on related research in WM&R, in support of the ISWA’s closing open dumps initiative.…”