Introduction
Since the mid-1980s municipal solid waste and the environmental consequences associated with its management have received a great deal of attention in industrialized countries. Research into the environmental effects of waste management practices has shown that the ‘preferred’ option(s) for waste management depends upon a number of site-specific factors, including:
- The characteristics of the waste
- The efficiency of the waste collection and processing systems required by different waste management practices
- The availability and proximity of markets for recovered materials
- The end use of the materials recovered from the waste stream/li>
- The emission standards to which waste management facilities are designed and operated
- The cost effectiveness of the environmental protection obtained by different waste management practices
- The social preferences of the community
- The recognition that there is no single practice that is always preferred over others, has given rise to the concept of integrated solid waste management (ISWM). ISWM considers the full range of waste streams to be managed and views the available waste management practices as a menu of options from which waste managers can select the preferred option based on site specific environmental, economic and social considerations.
CSR: Corporations Supporting Recycling and EPIC, the Environment and Plastics Industry Council commissioned the development of an environmental analysis model to evaluate the life cycle environmental and energy effects of waste management processes as a tool to guide municipal waste managers in the evaluation of waste management systems.
The City of London, Ontario, a co-participant in the project, was the initial test case and has furthered the development of the model through its direct application in London’s Continuous Improvement System.
More recently, Environment Canada has been a major contributor to the upgrading and extension of the processes of waste management considered by the model.
The objective of the project is to provide Canadian municipalities with a tool that will enable them to evaluate the environmental performance of the various elements of their existing or proposed waste management systems thereby leading towards the goal of ISWM Life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is used to assess the environmental impacts of products from cradle to grave and is increasingly being applied to the evaluation of waste management strategies.
It should be noted however that there is a fundamental difference between the life cycle boundaries of products and wastes. The life cycle of a product starts with the extraction of raw materials (through activities such as mining, logging, etc) and ends with the final disposal of a product. The life cycle of a waste on the other hand, starts when a material is discarded into the waste stream and ends when the waste material has either been converted into a resource (such as recycled material or recovered energy) or, when it has been finally disposed. Life cycle studies of waste materials cannot therefore be used as a basis for comparing products.
The environmental analysis model uses life cycle methodology to quantify the energy consumed and the emissions released from a user specified waste management system. The model has been structured so that it uses data specific to the user municipality to ensure applicability of the results and accuracy. At the same time, in order to allow the user the ability to undertake a ‘first level’ screening evaluation, default values have been provided, wherever possible.
The environmental analysis model has been peer reviewed by an independent panel of five reviewers with expertise in life cycle analysis and waste management. The review panel was chosen independently of CSR and EPIC.
Professor M.E. Haight of the Faculty of Environmental Science of the University of Waterloo (Canada) has been contracted to maintain the model and manage its distribution.
By clicking on IWM Booklet you will access a booklet that describes the model, the data input requirements and how to fill in the various visual basic screens. In addition you will find information on the various environmental indicators such as “Greenhouse Gases” considered by the model. There is also an example of a sample run. The booklet is available in “Acrobat Reader”.
By clicking on Case Histories you will access examples of the way in which some municipalities and others have used the model as a guide in their waste management decision processes.
The model is available free of charge to any interested party simply by registering. An application form is available by clicking on the button below. Upon receipt of a completed application, an authorization in the form of a password will be e-mailed to the applicant. Registration ensures that the applicant receives announcements of changes made to individual modules of the model as well notification of new modules added to the model.
In addition those who register have access to the documentation, including sources, of the data upon which the model is built.
