Using material flow analysis and life cycle assessment in decision support: A case study on WEEE valorization in Belgium

Meester, Steven De; Nachtergaele, Pieter; Debaveye, Sam; Vos, P.L.A.M.; Dewulf, Jo

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.10.015

Cited by 106 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This mini-review conducted on Italian studies states that many aspects and different waste flows have been investigated by LCA practitioners. This multidimensional trend is also consistent with the international research (Wang et al, 2021), and different studies have been conducted on both overall waste management (Laurent, Bakas, et al, 2014) and product life cycles (Tukker and Jansen, 2006), or on specific waste flows, including biowaste (Lundie and Peters, 2005) or electronic waste (De Meester et al, 2019). In recent years, LCA studies have compared many worldwide predictive, explorative or normative scenarios and have analysed different territories, perspectives and options (Börjeson et al, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Life cycle assessment applied to waste management in Italy: A mini-review of characteristics and methodological perspectives for local assessment

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and related tools are commonly used to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of waste treatment scenarios. This manuscript presents a mini-review of studies published over the last 10 years in Italy and aims to investigate how life cycle thinking tools are applied to assess the environmental sustainability of local-level waste policies. Results reveal that different waste flows, technologies and policies have been investigated independently and in varying detail. Review suggests that boundary selection significantly affects LCA results; integration of different waste systems is therefore crucial to avoid spatial or temporal shifts of environmental impacts. Moreover, the description of methodological characteristics, limitations and transversal aspects of Italian waste management studies allows various stakeholders to assess the reliability of past and future research for waste policy planning and rebound effects prevention. This review also highlights the need to define minimum requirements of transparency and ease of reporting of the studies to private and public stakeholders. Finally, the paper investigates whether using both the organisational LCA and the life cycle sustainability approach for the overall waste management process may be useful to develop a standard method to address multi-functionalities and multiple sites.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Life cycle assessment applied to waste management in Italy: A mini-review of characteristics and methodological perspectives for local assessment

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…LCA has been combined with material flow analysis by several authors. De Meester et al [ 60 ] optimized the WEEE recycling chain in Belgium. Fiore et al [ 10 ] analyzed WEEE management in an Italian full-scale plant.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecotoxicity of Plastics from Informal Waste Electric and Electronic Treatment and Recycling

Butturi

Marinelli

Gamberini

et al. 2020

Toxics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plastic materials account for about 20% of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The recycling of this plastic fraction is a complex issue, heavily conditioned by the content of harmful additives, such as brominated flame retardants. Thus, the management and reprocessing of WEEE plastics pose environmental and human health concerns, mainly in developing countries, where informal recycling and disposal are practiced. The objective of this study was twofold. Firstly, it aimed to investigate some of the available options described in the literature for the re-use of WEEE plastic scraps in construction materials, a promising recycling route in the developing countries. Moreover, it presents an evaluation of the impact of these available end-of-life scenarios on the environment by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. In order to consider worker health and human and ecological risks, the LCA analysis focuses on ecotoxicity more than on climate change. The LCA evaluation confirmed that the plastic re-use in the construction sector has a lower toxicity impact on the environment and human health than common landfilling and incineration practices. It also shows that the unregulated handling and dismantling activities, as well as the re-use practices, contribute significantly to the impact of WEEE plastic treatments.

show abstract

“…However, most of the works on copper recycling focus on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) with the highest copper content and ignore other wastes. Some interesting works on WEEE recycling optimization can be cited: Johansson and Luttropp (2009); Kasper et al (2011);de Souza et al (2016); Dias et al (2018); Meester et al (2019).…”

Section: Production and Recycling Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of natural resource management: Application to French copper cycle

Bonnin

Azzaro‐Pantel

Domenech

2019

Journal of Cleaner Production

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An innovative resource flow optimization model is proposed that aims at helping decision makers to choose the best resource management policies at national and international scales. This model has been developed and validated on French copper cycle, but can easily be extended to any country or metal. A mathematical formulation of all the in and outflows of the resource, as well as stocks in the techno sphere and waste management, including recycling, has been developed. The complexity of resource cycle led to the introduction of 47 decision variables and resulted in a Mixed Integer Non Linear Pro gramming formulation. The resource cycle efficiency has been assessed through four indicators regarding costs, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and resource losses. The NSGA II genetic algorithm methodology has been selected as an optimization strategy. Monobjective optimizations have firstly been conducted for each of the four criteria: the results showed that very different management stra tegies are needed depending on the targeted criteria. Multiobjective optimizations have thus been conducted coupled with the decision support tool TOPSIS to find an optimal compromise solution. As expected, the selected solution highlights the importance of developing a recycling channel for Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment in France.

show abstract

Using material flow analysis and life cycle assessment in decision support: A case study on WEEE valorization in Belgium

Cited by 106 publications

References 28 publications

Life cycle assessment applied to waste management in Italy: A mini-review of characteristics and methodological perspectives for local assessment

Life cycle assessment applied to waste management in Italy: A mini-review of characteristics and methodological perspectives for local assessment

Ecotoxicity of Plastics from Informal Waste Electric and Electronic Treatment and Recycling

Optimization of natural resource management: Application to French copper cycle

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About