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Affaldsindikatorer
The aim of this pilot project was both 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 that each
have distinct strengths and weaknesses (referred to as Model A and Model B). 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 use 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
initially be implemented within 8 working months, and can subsequently be updated on a
yearly basis within approximately 2 working months (including obtaining and updating LCA
data).
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