ABSTRACT
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the municipal solid waste (MSW) management in a selected residential area of the Portuguese city of Aveiro was conducted. The results showed a poor environmental performance in terms of greenhouse effect gases (GHG) emissions, due to the high amounts of waste being landfilled and the low extent of separate collection. Alternative scenarios were tested, where separate collection is enhanced, in order to improve the environmental balance of GHG emissions until reaching a balanced situation between positive and negative effects. It was found that by using an adequate combination of several treatment options and increasing the separate collection of recyclable materials it is possible to turn MSW management neutral in terms of GHG emissions.
