Identifying Stakeholders’ Views on the Eco‐efficiency Assessment of a Municipal Solid Waste Management System

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the most popular methods of technical-environmental assessment for informing environmental policies, as, for instance, in municipal solid waste (MSW) management. Because MSW management involves many stakeholders with possibly conflicting interests, the implementation of an LCA-based policy can, however, be blocked or delayed. A stakeholder assessment of future scenarios helps identify conflicting interests and anticipate barriers of sustainable MSW management systems. This article presents such an approach for Swiss waste glass-packaging disposal, currently undergoing a policy review. In an online survey, stakeholders (N = 85) were asked to assess disposal scenarios showing different LCA-based eco-efficiencies with respect to their desirability and probability of occurrence. Scenarios with higher eco-efficiency than the current system are more desirable and considered more probable than those with lower eco-efficiency. A combination of inland recycling and downcycling to foam glass (insulation material) in Switzerland is desired by all stakeholders and is more eco-efficient than the current system. In contrast, institutions of MSW management, such as national and regional environmental protection agencies, judge a scenario in which nearly all cullet would be recycled in the only Swiss glass-packaging factory as more desirable than supply and demand stakeholders of waste glass-packaging. Such a scenario involves a monopsony rejected by many municipalities and scrap traders. Such an assessment procedure can provide vital information guiding the formulation of environmental policies. Keywords:eco-efficiency glass-packaging life cycle assessment (LCA) municipal solid waste (MSW) stakeholder transition management Supporting information is available on the JIE Web site

Future scenarios and life cycle assessment: systematic review and recommendations

“…The scenario process also stresses on defining case-specific key aspects contextually and using different techniques. For example, qualitative techniques involving stakeholders' opinions can provide a backbone for quantitative data, as shown by Meylan et al (2015).…”

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Using life cycle assessment to address stakeholders’ potential for improving municipal solid waste management

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