Environmental assessment of municipal solid waste management in developing countries: a case study in Southern Brazil

The present study aimed to develop a life cycle assessment (LCA) study of municipal solid waste management in Vera Cruz, RS, Brazil, to evaluate conventional waste management system, sorting of recyclable materials and composting treatment; integrated waste management with sorting of recyclable and composting facilities; optimised integrated waste management for recyclable and composting assumptions (80% and 85%, respectively). Results show that in the optimised integrated waste management, it is possible to reduce impacts in the global warming and acidification categories by 65% and 52%, respectively, whereas intermediate scenarios are projected to reduce these impacts by lesser amounts. Transportation and the final destination of the waste are among the waste management stages with the greatest environmental impacts. This LCA can quantify the magnitude of potential environmental impacts and may be used in decision-making process to identify the best scenario management.