Politecnico di Milano, DIIAR Environmental Section, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
J Environ Manage. 2012 Oct 15;108:73-83. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.04.025. Epub 2012 May 30.
The strategic relevance of waste prevention has considerably increased worldwide during recent years, such that the current European legislation requires the preparation of national waste prevention programmes in which reduction objectives and measures are identified. In such a context, it is possible to recognise how, in order to correctly evaluate the environmental consequences of a prevention activity, a life cycle perspective should be employed. This allows us to go beyond the simple reduction of the generated waste which, alone, does not automatically imply achieving better overall environmental performance, especially when this reduction is not pursued through the simple reduction of consumption. In this study, the energetic and environmental performance of two waste prevention activities considered particularly meaningful for the Italian context were evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The two activities were the utilisation of public network water (two scenarios) and of refillable bottled water (two scenarios) for drinking purposes, instead of one-way bottled water (three scenarios). The energy demand and specific potential impacts of the four waste prevention scenarios and of the three baseline scenarios were compared with the aim of evaluating whether, and under what conditions, the analysed prevention activities are actually associated with overall energetic and environmental benefits. In typical conditions, the use of public network water directly from the tap results in the best scenario, while if water is withdrawn from public fountains, its further transportation by private car can involve significant impacts. The use of refillable PET bottled water seems the preferable scenario for packaged water consumption, if refillable bottles are transported to local distributors along the same (or a lower) distance as one-way bottles to retailers. The use of refillable glass bottled water is preferable to one-way bottled water only if a distance beneath 150 km separates bottling plants from local distributors and retailers (except for eutrophication indicator which is always slightly worse). To reduce waste generation and to achieve meaningful potential savings of natural resources, energy and greenhouse gas emissions, a reduction in one-way bottled water consumption in Italy is recommended in favour of the use of public network water and of the establishment of short distance-PET bottles based refilling systems. The development of closed loop recycling of one-way PET bottles, and especially the reduction of the distance along which one-way bottled water is transported, are also important.
近年来，全球范围内废物预防的战略相关性显著增加，以至于当前的欧洲法规要求制定国家废物预防计划，其中确定减少目标和措施。在这种情况下，可以认识到，为了正确评估预防活动的环境后果，应该采用生命周期观点。这使我们能够超越单纯减少产生的废物，因为单独减少废物并不自动意味着实现更好的整体环境绩效，特别是当这种减少不是通过简单地减少消费来实现时。在这项研究中，使用生命周期评估 (LCA) 方法评估了对意大利有特别意义的两项废物预防活动的能源和环境绩效。这两项活动是出于饮用目的而使用公共网络水（两种情况）和可再填充瓶装水（两种情况），而不是使用一次性瓶装水（三种情况）。比较了四个废物预防情况和三个基准情况的能源需求和特定潜在影响，目的是评估分析的预防活动是否以及在什么条件下实际上与整体能源和环境效益相关。在典型条件下，直接从龙头使用公共网络水的情况是最佳情况，而如果从公共喷泉中抽取水，然后用私家车进一步运输，可能会产生重大影响。如果可再填充 PET 瓶装水的运输距离与一次性瓶装水相同（或更低），则可再填充 PET 瓶装水似乎是包装水消费的首选方案。只有当装瓶厂与当地分销商和零售商之间的距离低于 150 公里（除了富营养化指标始终略差之外）时，使用可再填充玻璃瓶装水才比一次性瓶装水更可取。为了减少废物产生并实现有意义的自然资源、能源和温室气体排放节约，建议减少意大利的一次性瓶装水消费，转而使用公共网络水，并建立基于短距离 PET 瓶的再填充系统。发展一次性 PET 瓶的闭环回收，特别是减少一次性瓶装水运输的距离，也很重要。
