Environmental sustainability analysis of an integrated municipal solid waste management system: a life cycle approach

Developing countries are implementing strategies to mitigate the environmental impacts of municipal solid waste (MSW) in sustainable ways. Therefore, a holistic approach has emerged as municipal solid waste management (MSWM) to handle sustainable development goals (SDGs)-in particular, SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 12 (responsible production and consumption). Increased MSW generation rates compel policy makers to develop feasible MSWM strategies to meet SDGs. This study aims to assess the environmental and exergetic impacts of an integrated MSWM system by considering MSW collection and transportation, landfill site construction and operation, a piping process, a landfill gas system, and electricity generation. Hotspots and major contributors within the system's subprocesses have been identified from the life cycle assessment perspective. Results were normalized by 1 ton of disposed MSW and 1 kWh of electricity generated by a landfill gas power plant. Global warming potential and exergy consumption for 1 ton of disposed MSW were calculated as 1.60E + 02 kg CO2-eq/ton and 2.45E + 3 MJ/ton, respectively. Furthermore, the landfill gas power plant's impacts were calculated as 1.56E + 00 kg CO2-eq/kWh and 2.40E + 01 MJ/kWh. Results showed that hotspots of environmental and exergy impacts on the overall system accumulated in the MSW collecting and transportation processes at 97.80% and 93.50%. This study highlighted that optimizing waste truck routes, constructing transfer stations, and decreasing diesel use in waste trucks substantially influence the total life cycle performance of integrated MSWM systems.