Life Cycle Based Cost-Benefit Assessment of Waste Management Options

In a study for the EU commission (DG-JRC), a new method for monetarisation of life cycle impacts has been developed and applied to different waste treatment scenarios, using the most recent generic data sources for the different technologies. The objectives of the study were: • To provide life cycle assessment data, results and strategy recommendations for municipal waste management in the new EU member states, with Malta and Krakow as specific cases. • To provide background insights for the development of a common European reference system for life cycle assessment (LCA). The study applies a mainstream “bottom-up” life cycle assessment method, supplemented by data for background processes from “top-down” input-output matrices, based on national accounting statistics combined with national emission statistics. In terms of impact assessment, the study applies both a mainstream “midpoint category method” with 14 midpoint impact categories, and an “endpoint” or “damage category method” where the midpoint category results are further modelled to a single damage category and expressed in monetary units (Euro), thus allowing full monetarisation of all environmental externalities.

KONECZNY Karol; 

2007-02-27

Danish Waste Management Association (DAKOFA) / International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)

JRC36748

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC36748,