Environmental and Economical Assessment of MSW Management in Europe: An Analysis between the Landfill and WTE Impacts

Every year two billion tons of MSW are produced globally. Due to the impact of solid waste and population growth, it is necessary to develop an integrated solid waste management plan. Such a plan, holistic in scope, would aim to minimize the negative impact of this material in the environment while being economically viable. The designation and terming of any one mode of waste treatment as superior or preferable is an intricate issue in which a large set of standards and measures should be taken into account. The decision must consider not only economic and political aspects and realities but also environmental ones in the long term. According to the traditional method of life cycle assessment (LCA), it is possible to evaluate the environmental impact of different technologies and systems used for solid waste management such as recycling and biological treatments, waste-to-energy facilities and landfills. In order to provide examples and bases for comparison, several previous LCA studies are considered in this paper. Furthermore, various pros and cons of landfills and waste-to-energy facilities, taking into consideration European environmental, financial, and political realities are verified as well as the importance of European regulations and economic instruments adopted in several member countries. The results prove that the MSW hierarchy (avoid, reuse, recycle, recovery energy and landfill) present in the European regulation is the most adequate way to treat waste.