A Concept for the Environmental Evaluation of Waste Management Benefits

Abstract For the removal of a certain waste stream in general several options are available. According to the common applied ‘stair concept’ prevention of waste should be the first option. If this is not possible the waste should be re-used and otherwise it should be incinerated or landfilled. Though a valuable rule of a thumb, scientific and public discussions show that this approach can be in quite a few cases too rough to make common accepted decisions. This paper presents a more sophisticated approach, called the Waste management benefit concept. It has been developed on the basis of methodologies used in Environmental Impact Assessment, (health) risk analysis and product Life Cycle Analysis. A system-approach is presented, in which all relevant environmental effects related to whole life-cycle of the waste removal process are analyzed and aggregated to an integrated judgement. The methodology has been tested in a case on the removal of polluted sediments. Four options have been compared: (1) no removal, (2) covering the polluted sediment with an isolating clay layer, (3) dredging and landfill of the sediment and (4) dredging the sediment and sintering it with sewage sludge to so-called ‘eco-gravel’. Apart from the theme ‘acidification’ the re-use alternative (4) shows to be the most environmental friendly option. The case-study has shown that the approach in principle is suitable to perform a quantitative, integral and transparent comparison of the environmental benefits of waste management options.