Using life cycle assessment to address stakeholders’ potential for improving municipal solid waste management

Abstract

Because the consumption of materials is generally higher than their recovery rate, improving municipal solid waste (MSW) management is fundamental for increasing the efficiency of natural resource use and consumption in urban areas. More broadly, the characteristics of a MSW management system influence the end-of-life (EOL) impacts of goods consumed by households. We aim to indicate the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions from a MSW management system can be reduced by increasing waste paper recycling. We also address the stakeholders' contribution for driving transition towards an improved scenario. Life cycle assessment (LCA) addresses the EOL impacts of the paper industry, driven by the characteristics of MSW management in Florianópolis, Brazil, by varying the level of stakeholders' commitment through different recycling scenarios. The results show that 41% of the climate change impacts from waste paper management could be reduced when increasing the waste paper recycling rates and reducing waste paper landfilling. To achieve such emissions reduction, the industry contribution to the MSW management system would have to increase from 17% in the business-as-usual scenario to 74% in the target scenario. We were able to measure the differences in stakeholders' contribution by modelling the MSW management system processes that are under the industry's responsibility separately from the processes that are under the government's responsibility, based on the Brazilian legal framework. The conclusions indicate that LCA can be used to support policy directions on reducing the impacts of MSW management by increasing resource recovery towards a circular economy.

Decarbonizing the pulp and paper industry: A critical and systematic review of sociotechnical developments and policy options

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Strategies and Challenges for the Circular Economy: a Case Study in Portugal and a Panorama for Brazil

“…Furthermore, there are scientific references, specifically for the CE in Brazil in the contexts of energy acquisition through residues [50,51], residue management [52,53,54], industrial symbiosis [55], trends for a circular system [9] and natural resource footprint [56]. The actions approached in these recent researches, although diffuse, contribute to a bigger approach to the CE strategies, also demonstrating the need for sectoral analyses in a country with big dimensions, along with policies that present systemic, proactive and interdisciplinary principles and goals.…”

Continuing Education to Food Waste Management

“…Therefore, the city attracts more residents each year. With more residents, the domestic consumption pattern increases (DE ANDRADE JUNIOR;ZANGHELINI;SOARES, 2017). This relationship is perceived in the per capita waste generation.…”