Environmental assessment of MSW collection/transport using biomethane in mid-sized metropolitan areas of developing countries

Abstract

The novelty of this paper is the focus solely on MSW collection/transport in mid-sized metropolitan regions of developing countries, using biomethane (which can be supplied by the MSW management system) an alternative fuel and different waste collection methods. The eight proposed scenarios, compared to the baseline scenario, combine diesel and biowaste, doorto-door and bring collection methods, as well as two different levels of sourceseparated collection. The results have shown if the collection vehicles use biomethane, the impacts will always be significantly lower than using diesel (between 68–98%, depending on the impact category and scenario), even accounting with the uncertainty of the results. In this particular case-study, increasing source-separated collection also reduced the transport impacts in 40–50%, as the transfer stations are closer to the recycling facilities than the landfills. This is because the fuel consumption of transport is a function of distance, so is the impact. Therefore, this study recommends: using biomethane produced from anaerobic digestion of organic waste instead of diesel to expand circular MSW management; establishing transfer stations for the municipalities located more than 25 km away from waste management facilities; expanding the collection coverage to 100%; increasing sourceseparated collection and recycling.