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Climate Change and Solid Waste Management

Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of Diversion Alternatives

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is working with RTI International, R.W. Beck, Matthew Cotton, and Dr. Sally Brown to perform a life cycle assessment of diversion alternatives in support of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32). The objectives of this project are to quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions from implementation of diversion alternatives, and to perform an economic analysis to determine the associated costs and savings of the selected alternatives on a regional and statewide basis.

Project Scope | Project Status | Draft Documents and Stakeholder Review Schedule | Workshop Presentations

Project Scope

The project is broken up into 15 tasks with three main project parts: (1) life cycle assessment, (2) economic analysis, and (3) GHG tool development and final report.

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Screening Tool. The LCA component will identify GHG emissions and reductions from selected diversion alternatives. This portion of the project will include an evaluation of existing municipal solid waste LCA tools, development of LCA model, data collection, conducting a life cycle impact assessment, and interpretation of LCA results. In addition, further work is being done to bolster organic life cycle analysis. The LCA will be used to evaluate GHG emissions and GHG emission reductions for individual or combinations of material diversion alternatives in at least three regions in California (Southern, Central Valley, and Bay Area).
• Economic Analysis. The economic analysis will quantify costs and cost savings as well as the diversion potential of the selected diversion alternatives. This will include the projected capital costs, operating costs and revenues for each selected diversion alternative (in 2005 U.S. dollars) on a per ton and per million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) basis. Costs and benefits will be quantified for each diversion alternative at each stage of the waste management system, including generator, hauler, processor, and end-user. The cost-effectiveness and economic impact (direct, indirect, and induced) of each diversion alternative will be quantified on a regional and statewide basis. The economic analysis will strive to quantify combinations of diversion alternatives which are appropriate in the selected regions of California to achieve GHG reductions in the most cost-effective manner.
• GHG Tool Development. The GHG tool development and final report will combine all the project elements into a California-specific, dynamic tool and a project report that can be used by CIWMB staff, local jurisdictions, and industry to prioritize diversion alternatives for maximum GHG reductions in a cost effective manner on a regional and statewide basis. A detailed user's manual will enable the effective utilization of the GHG tool.

Project Status

• LCA Tool Evaluation. This document contains RTI's results from the "Evaluation of Existing Municipal Solid Waste/Life Cycle Assessment (MSW/LCA) Tools" as part of Task 4 of the LCA of Organic Diversion Alternatives and Economic Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Options project. To complete the tools evaluation, the project team reviewed 10 municipal solid waste (MSW) life cycle analysis tools that could be used in designing a California-specific tool that focuses on diversion alternatives and prepared a matrix that presents information on selected evaluation criteria for each of the tools. Consistent with the objectives of this work, emphasis was made on evaluating and comparing greenhouse gas (GHG) related estimation methodologies used in the different tools when modeling alternatives for waste management LCA Screening Document (Adobe PDF, 993 KB).
• Technical Approach for the Project. This memorandum contains a detailed working description of the technical approach for completing the "Life Cycle Assessment of Organic Diversion Alternatives and Economic Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Options" study. The approach is a working approach that will be updated over the time period of the project as more information is made available and/or developed. Technical Approach for the Life Cycle Assessment and Economic Analysis of Organic Waste Management and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Options (Adobe PDF, 319 KB)
• Recycling Cost Analysis. This document expands on the technical approach by providing additional details on the project team's approach to the recycling cost analysis. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Organics Diversion Alternatives and Economic Analysis of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Options, Approach to Recycling Cost Analysis (Adobe PDF, 76 KB). The document includes the following information:
  • Calculation methods of net operating and capital costs for recycling.
  • Calculation methods of recycling cost savings.
  • Definition of the categories of recyclable materials to be modeled.
  • Definition of the categories of collection systems and processing facilities to be modeled.
  • Description of the gathering methodology that will support the recycling cost analysis.

Draft Documents and Stakeholder Review Schedule

The CIWMB welcomes your participation in this project and invites you to review and submit comments on the draft deliverables.

Document	Date Available	Comments Due
Facilities Data Survey	Mar. 31, 2009	Apr. 21, 2009
Compost Sampling and Analysis Report	Apr. 10, 2009	May 1, 2009
Scenarios, Process Boundaries, and Key Data/Assumptions	Apr. 16, 2009	May 7, 2009
Draft Final Project Report and GHG Tool	To be determined.	August 5, 2009
Final Stakeholders Workshop (present analysis results and GHG Tool)	July 22, 2009	August 5, 2009

Draft documents will be made available here. Comments must to be received or postmarked on the day comments are due In order to be considered in the GHG Tool and Final Report. Comments may be submitted to the Climate Change e-mailbox at ClimateChange@ciwmb.ca.gov, or sent to:

CIWMB
Attention: Clark Williams, MS 13A
1001 I Street
P.O. Box 4025
Sacramento, CA 95812

If you have any questions, please contact: Clark Williams or Teri Wion.

Stay informed! Subscribe to the CIWMB Climate Change Listserv to receive information about reviewing the draft documents as well as ongoing announcements regarding the project and other climate change information.

Workshop Presentations

• February 2, 2009
• January 28, 2008