2019_EJRNL_PP_MEGAN_K__JAUNICH_1.pdf
Terbatas Lili Sawaludin Mulyadi
» ITB
Terbatas Lili Sawaludin Mulyadi
» ITB
: Solid waste management (SWM) is a key
function of local government and is critical to protecting
human health and the environment. Development of effective
SWM strategies should consider comprehensive SWM process
choices and policy implications on system-level cost and
environmental performance. This analysis evaluated cost and
select environmental implications of SWM policies for Wake
County, North Carolina using a life-cycle approach. A countyspecific data set and scenarios were developed to evaluate
alternatives for residential municipal SWM, which included
combinations of a mixed waste material recovery facility
(MRF), anaerobic digestion, and waste-to-energy combustion
in addition to existing SWM infrastructure (composting,
landfilling, single stream recycling). Multiple landfill diversion
and budget levels were considered for each scenario. At maximum diversion, the greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation costs ranged
from 30 to 900 $/MTCO2e; the lower values were when a mixed waste MRF was used, and the higher values when anaerobic
digestion was used. Utilization of the mixed waste MRF was sensitive to the efficiency of material separation and operating cost.
Maintaining the current separate collection scheme limited the potential for cost and GHG reductions. Municipalities seeking to
cost-effectively increase landfill diversion while reducing GHGs should consider waste-to-energy, mixed waste separation, and changes to collection.