Testing scenarios for municipal waste management chasing carbon neutrality

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the municipal solid waste (MSW) management in a selected residential area of the Portuguese city of Aveiro was conducted. The results showed a poor environmental performance in terms of greenhouse effect gases (GHG) emissions, due to the high amounts of waste being landfilled and the low extent of separate collection. Alternative scenarios were tested, where separate collection is enhanced, in order to improve the environmental balance of GHG emissions until reaching a balanced situation between positive and negative effects. It was found that by using an adequate combination of several treatment options and increasing the separate collection of recyclable materials it is possible to turn MSW management neutral in terms of GHG emissions.The authors acknowledge the financial support of LIFE-I- (financial instrument of the EU for the environment) for funding the LIFE PAYT project (LIFE 15/ENV/PT/000609). C. Dias-Ferreira acknowledges the Support through FCT (Fundaçäo para a Ciência e para a Tecnologia) of POCH (Programa Operacional Capital Humano) within ESF (European Social Fund) and of national funds (SFRH/BPD/100717/2014) from MC TES (Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior). The authors would also like to acknowledge the Aveiro Municipal Council and MSW management company ERSUC for the data they kindly provided for this work.