Optimizing resource and energy recovery for municipal solid waste Management

Significant reductions of carbon emissions and air quality impacts can be achieved by optimizing municipal solid waste (MSW) as a resource. Materials and discards management were found to contribute ~40% of overall U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a result of materials extraction, transport, collection, processing, recycling, composting, combustion, and landfilling. Decisions affecting materials management today are generally either fiscally based or based on the presumption of favorable outcomes without an understanding of the environmental tradeoffs. However, there is a growing demand to better understand and quantify the net environmental and energy trade-offs in setting waste management goals and priorities at a state and local level. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract