ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN IASI, ROMANIA

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to evaluate from environmental point of view the municipal solid waste management (MSWM) from Iasi, Romania considering two different systems existent in 2008 and 2013, respectively. Therefore, in 2008 the MSWM system included temporary storage of waste in containers, collection and transport and finally landfilling in the old landfill at Tomesti. After 2009 the MSWM system was improved: a new landfill at Tutora was developed according to the legislation, which also included leachate collection and treatment and biogas collection systems; and a sorting and composting plants were opened. In this study we have applied Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology for the evaluation of these two MSWM systems. After analyzing all the results it can be concluded that the environmental impacts of the MSWM system existent in 2013 are lower compared to the environmental impacts of system from 2008, but there are still negative impacts and an improvement of MSWM system is urgently required.