Industrial Engineering Department, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, 3769 Avenida Ecuador, Estación Central, Santiago, Chile.
Peruvian LCA and Industrial Ecology Network, Department of Engineering (PELCAN), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Avenida Universitaria 1801, San Miguel, 15088 Lima, Peru.
Waste Manag. 2021 Apr 1;124:314-324. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2021.02.020. Epub 2021 Feb 26.
Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is an important challenge in developing and emerging countries, where two realities co-exist. On the one hand, their metropolitan cities exhibit an integrated MSW system with a specialized fleet for the collection and landfills for the final disposal, concentrating on environmental initiatives such as municipal recycling programs. On the other hand, their regional cities show an MSW system based on adapted transports for collection and open dumps for final disposal. Besides, they face other environmental problems due to local conditions. This research proposes a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to close the gap between these two realities. In particular, we study the city of Valdivia (Chile), one of the main regional capitals of South America, which shares similarities with other southern regional cities in the Global South. This city disposes 95% of its MSW in open dumps and presents one of the highest environmental pollution rates in Latin America. We analyze the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy performance of six scenarios, seeking a solution for these problems. The results obtained show that a waste-to-energy scenario would generate savings of GHG emission and particulate matter, reaching 11.3% and 21.8%, respectively. Using our LCA approach, we can provide environmental evidence to highlight the importance of improving MSW management in regional cities, closing the gap with MSW management in metropolitan cities, and contributing to national targets such as United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Nationally-Determined Contributions.
城市固体废物（MSW）管理是发展中国家和新兴国家面临的一项重要挑战，这些国家存在着两种现实情况。一方面，它们的大都市展示了一种综合的 MSW 系统，拥有专门的收集车队和垃圾填埋场进行最终处置，并专注于环境倡议，如城市回收计划。另一方面，它们的区域城市展示了一种基于适应收集的 MSW 系统和用于最终处置的开放式垃圾场。此外，由于当地条件，它们还面临着其他环境问题。本研究提出了一种生命周期评估（LCA）方法来弥合这两种现实之间的差距。特别是，我们研究了智利的瓦尔迪维亚市（Valdivia），这是南美洲主要的区域首府之一，与全球南方的其他南部区域城市有相似之处。该市 95%的 MSW 都被倾倒在开放式垃圾场中，是拉丁美洲环境污染率最高的城市之一。我们分析了六个方案的温室气体（GHG）排放和能源绩效，寻求解决这些问题的方法。所得到的结果表明，废物能源化方案将减少 GHG 排放和颗粒物的排放，分别达到 11.3%和 21.8%。通过使用我们的 LCA 方法，我们可以提供环境证据，强调改善区域城市 MSW 管理的重要性，弥合与大都市城市 MSW 管理之间的差距，并为联合国可持续发展目标和国家自主贡献等国家目标做出贡献。
