METHODOLOGY OF ASSESSING THE ENVIRONMENTAL LIFE CYCLE OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. CONCEPTUAL ISSUES AND EXAMPLES OF APPLICATION

T. I. Yuganova^1,*

¹ Sergeev Institute of Environmental Geoscience RAS (IEG RAS) Ulansky per. 13, bld. 2, Moscow, 101000
*E-mail: tigryu@gmail.com

The review considers the methodology for assessing the life cycle of solid municipal waste from the standpoint of environmental protection, which is widely used in many countries, but almost not in Russia. The basic concepts of the methodology are presented, i.e., the life cycle scenario and its steps, assessment stages, impact categories and their indicators, functional unit, etc. The problem of weighting categories and its subjectivity is separately considered. An example of the applying life-cycle assessment (LCA) in Russia to estimation of the potential environmental impact of developed waste disposal scenarios for the city of Irkutsk is presented. Among foreign studies, several reviews of LCA applications have been noted. Frequently used software products are indicated. A number of available publications are presented on the specific experience of applying the LCA methodology, where more or less complete scenarios were studied, indicating the steps considered, the categories of impact and the detail of the results. Some of these studies are described. One of the last steps of the waste life cycle is considered separately – the environmental impact of the closed MSW landfill, in particular, the duration of the impact, which is recommended to be considered in the LCA. A study simulating the ingress of pollutants with leachate over a period of 10,000 years is presented under various scenarios of servicing the landfill with LCA by toxicity and eutrophication categories is presented, and the advantage of this approach over the usual assessment of the risk of groundwater pollution is shown. 

Key words: MSW, waste life cycle, waste life cycle assessment (waste LCA), scenario, LCA stage, inventory analysis, impact assessment, impact category, impact category indicator, characterization, weighting, subjectivity, functional unit, closed landfill

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