Life Cycle Costing Assessment–Based Approach for Evaluation of Solid Waste Management Options

Abstract

Solid waste management (SWM) is a global problem that is closely related to everyone in the world. Rapid urban and population growth, and improved living standards have resulted in high rates of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in urban areas. In India, approximately 70%–90% of allocated budgets are spent on waste collection and transportation and a minuscule budget is available for treatment and disposal. The selection of an appropriate combination of solid waste treatment facilities for cost-effective and efficient waste management is a complex problem. In this study, six cases will be made based on individual or combinations of available treatment and disposal facilities, and five scenarios will be made based on the characterization of MSW, which vary from 0% to 100% in the treatment of MSW for a life cycle cost assessment (LCCA) for an available option. The results reveal that the total cost of the waste treatment option in Scenario 1 has a maximum cost of treatment (INR 1,197/t) when all collected wastes were disposed of in facilities without segregation. Similarly, Case V (Sanitary landfill_Composting_Refuse derived fuel) (SLF_COM_RDF) in Scenario 5 has a minimum cost of treatment (INR 389/t), which is 7.2 times higher than the cost of open dumping (OD). This study will show that the COM treatment facility is an important and cost-effective treatment facility for compressive SWM. The results demonstrate that the life cycle costing (LCC) technique is suitable for the long-term planning of cost-effective MSW management for urban cities.