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The Environmental Health Impacts Of Msw Landfilling And Incineration

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THE COMPARISON OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IMPACTS IN MSW LANDFILLING AND INCINERATION USING LCA IN DIFFERENT HEALTH SYSTEMS

By

Ahmad Alqassim

Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Tulane University
Nov/30/2015

Abstract

Introduction: Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a complicated process that involves many technological options. In this review, we studied three different health systems effects regarding the impacts of MSW incineration and landfilling as models of managements on three environmental health measures, including global warming (GWP), acidification (AP), and nutrient enrichment (NEP) potentials. We further investigated whether such differences change our approach in the selection of the appropriate management option.

Materials and Methods: Life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted here to assess the environmental health impacts through all MSW management stages from production till treatment and disposal through four main phases: goal and scope, life cycle inventory, life cycle impact assessment and interpretation.

Results and Discussion: We found that the results are similar in two countries, Brazil and China where the GWP, AP and NEP were higher in landfills than in incinerators while in Canada the opposite was true. This indicates that the health standards and policies in the countries determine the environmental health impacts of these technologies.

Conclusion:

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