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Waste Indicators

Summary and conclusions

The aim of this pilot project was to investigate the extent to which life-cycle-based indicators could be calculated and applied to help prioritise efforts in the field of waste management, and follow the development of waste management in an environmental and resource perspective.

A preliminary analysis of the environmental effects of managing individual waste fractions showed that a number of environmental impacts should be included in the assessment. However, completing relevant life-cycle-based calculations that take all environmental impacts into account is not possible, because the data required is not available. It is particularly difficult to obtain accurate data on the content of toxic and persistent substances in waste.

Three life-cycle-based indicators are proposed for all waste fractions that reflect resource consumption, primary energy consumption, and landfill requirement. These indicators supplement each other, but do not necessarily provide a complete picture of the environmental effects of waste management. Resource consumption reflects the overall unit for materials that are consumed during waste management. Primary energy consumption is chosen as an indicator for various environmental impacts such as global warming and acidification, which are primarily linked to energy consumption. The landfill requirement indicator specifies the total landfill space needed for disposing of waste from the entire life-cycle of a given waste fraction.

An important point of discussion throughout the project has been which indicators it is possible to calculate compared to the environmental impacts that these indicators reflect. These discussions have led to the results being presented in two different ways each with their distinct strengths and weaknesses. For both models, incomplete and uncertain data means that the indicators should be regarded as a helpful tool in the decision making process, which involves a variety of factors. The continuous publication of indicator values to a wider audience will require careful presentation of the main assumptions and uncertainties.

Model A provides a kind of overview of the resource consumption and environmental effects of the majority of waste fractions. However, this would be a rather comprehensive and time-consuming task. In addition, the results would primarily be useful in a discussion of the extent to which there is a need to reduce waste generated during the production and consumption phases of a product's life-cycle, which is beyond the scope of this project.

Model B, on the other hand, adequately fulfils the most important aim of calculating life-cycle-based indicators, namely to identify the most significant potential resource and environmental savings associated with further optimising waste management operations. At the same time, Model B would be able to document that efforts to minimise the environmental impacts of waste management have so far proven to be effective.

Model B can be carried out initially with eight man-months and can be updated annually with an effort of around two man-months (incl. provision and updating of LCA data).