Material and energy recovery in integrated waste management systems: A life-cycle costing approach

► The study aims at assessing economic performance of alternative scenarios of MSW. ► The approach is the life-cycle costing (LCC). ► Waste technologies must be considered as complementary into an integrated strategy. A critical assumption of studies assessing comparatively waste management options concerns the constant average cost for selective collection regardless the source separation level (SSL) reached, and the neglect of the mass constraint. The present study compares alternative waste management scenarios through the development of a desktop model that tries to remove the above assumption. Several alternative scenarios based on different combinations of energy and materials recovery are applied to two imaginary areas modelled in order to represent a typical Northern Italian setting. External costs and benefits implied by scenarios are also considered. Scenarios are compared on the base of the full cost for treating the total waste generated in the area. The model investigates the factors that influence the relative convenience of alternative scenarios.