Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Waste Management Systems Based on Different Recovery Technologies – Legislative and Socio- Economic Influence on Perception of Technologies

In most countries, waste management systems are modelled as a systems that provide a public waste management service and thus must be able to meet environmental sustainability requirements at a cost which is acceptable to system users/citizens. This study analyses the link between economic and environmental sustainability. The environmental sustainability of different waste management systems was analysed using a Cumulative Energy Demand indicator which analyses sustainability from a lifecycle perspective and whose application in waste management system analysis is more appropriate from conducting full-scale LCA analysis. The model used to carry out this environmental analysis was also extended with economic functions to analyse the economic sustainability of the system. The relation between the two calculated indicators defines the Economic Efficiency of Resource Recovery (EERR) index which shows the specific cost of the system for achieving identified resource recovery. This index can be used for benchmarking overall (environmental and economic) sustainability of the waste management systems, while its graphical representation can be used for easier comparison of possible solutions, easier presentation of the results, and easier decision making. The results show that the quality decision-making process needs to take into account the impact of expected changes on the overall sustainability of the systems under consideration and evaluate how they will affect the current perception of used technologies. In this context, it can be concluded that planning of sustainable waste management system needs to ecomaps not only waste management system itself but also the connecting systems which can provide support in meeting legislation goals in an economically sustainable way.