The Role of Biological Treatment in Integrated Solid Waste Management

Biological treatment plays an important role in solid waste management since it can effectively treat a significant proportion of municipal solid waste, as well as certain industrial wastes. However, no one treatment method can manage all waste materials in an environmentally effective and affordable way. Biological treatment therefore needs to be part of an overall integrated waste management (IWM) system. Making such IWM systems both environmentally and economically sustainable requires that both their overall environmental burdens and economic costs can be predicted, and then optimised. This paper show how a Lifecycle Inventory (LCI) tool can be used to assess overall sustainability and optimise the role of biological treatment within integrated solid waste management. It suggests that further integration of both solid and water-borne CTwaste treatment can lead to additional environmental and economic improvements.