Life Cycle Assessments of Energy From Solid Waste (PDF)

7.4.3 Toxicological effects
The effects of longer transports in the recycling cases result in altered rankings compared to
the base and medium transports scenario for some toxicological assessments. For ecotoxicological
effects using the EDIP method this is the case for the newspaper fraction, where
the increased transport distances leads to a fall in preference from second to third for
recycling. This is mainly due to emissions of NMVOC from the trucks, which is considered
as benzene in the assessment of toxicological effects. However this change is not seen using
the USES methods
The same emission leads to changes in the rankings of treatment of the newspaper fraction
also when considering human toxicological impacts. When using the USES-method for
characterisation, both with maximum and minimum weight, recycling falls from first to
second in ranking compared to the base and medium transport scenarios, leaving incineration
as highest ranked.
7.13 Comparison between a scenario with long transports and the base scenario. The table shows the weighted
results for toxicological effects in SEK/year. The sub-categories have been weighted and added together into
eco-toxicological effects (E-tox) and toxicological effects on human health (H-tox).
Whole
system
Long transports
Food waste Newspaper PET Whole
system
Base scenario
Food waste Newspaper PET
E-tox EDIP
Rec dig h/e -4,2E+06 2,7E+06 4,1E+05 -9,9E+05 -6.3E+06 2.0E+06 -1.9E+05 -1.1E+06
Rec dig f -3,4E+06 3,5E+06 -5.4E+06 2.9E+06
Rec comp -5,9E+06 1,0E+06 -8.0E+06 3.9E+05
Incineration -2,1E+07 -2,1E+06 -7,6E+06 -1,0E+05 -2.2E+07 -2.8E+06 -8.2E+06 -1.1E+05
Landfill 1,5E+06 -4,2E+04 4,0E+05 5,8E+04 3.4E+05 -4.5E+05 4.6E+04 5.4E+04
E-tox USES min
Rec dig h/e -8,8E+07 1,2E+08 -1,7E+08 -7,1E+05 -9.0E+07 1.2E+08 -1.7E+08 -7.3E+05
Rec dig f -4,2E+07 1,7E+08 -4.3E+07 1.7E+08
Rec comp -5,2E+07 1,6E+08 -5.4E+07 1.6E+08
Incineration -2,6E+08 -3,2E+07 -9,4E+07 -1,6E+06 -2.6E+08 -3.2E+07 -9.4E+07 -1.6E+06
Landfill -1,0E+08 -3,1E+07 -3,6E+07 2,5E+04 -1.0E+08 -3.1E+07 -3.6E+07 2.2E+04
E-tox USES max
Rec dig h/e -9,7E+08 1,6E+09 -9,2E+08 -1,1E+08 -1.2E+09 1.5E+09 -9.9E+08 -1.2E+08
Rec dig f -7,0E+08 1,8E+09 -1.9E+09 1.8E+09
Rec comp -6,9E+08 1,8E+09 -9.3E+08 1.8E+09
Incineration 1,6E+10 2,3E+09 5,7E+09 1,8E+08 1.6E+10 2.2E+09 5.6E+09 1.8E+08
Landfill 1,6E+10 2,2E+09 5,8E+09 1,9E+08 1.6E+10 2.1E+09 5.7E+09 1.9E+08
H-tox EDIP
Rec dig h/e -6,0E+08 3,3E+07 -2,0E+08 -8,3E+07 -7.5E+08 -1.3E+07 -2.4E+08 -8.4E+07
Rec dig f -5,5E+08 7,9E+07 -7.0E+08 3.2E+07
Rec comp -5,5E+08 8,6E+07 -6.9E+08 3.9E+07
Incineration -1,6E+08 1,8E+07 -6,7E+07 -1,3E+06 -3.1E+08 -3.5E+07 -1.1E+08 -1.8E+06
Landfill -7,7E+06 -4,6E+06 -7,6E+06 8,6E+05 -9.1E+07 -3.5E+07 -3.4E+07 5.6E+05
H-tox USES min
Rec dig h/e -1,4E+07 3,0E+06 5,4E+05 -3,5E+06 -2.0E+07 1.3E+06 -1.1E+06 -3.5E+06
Rec dig f -1,4E+07 2,7E+06 -2.0E+07 9.6E+05
Rec comp -1,4E+07 3,5E+06 -1.9E+07 1.7E+06
Incineration 1,6E+06 1,7E+06 3,3E+05 -8,3E+03 -3.9E+06 -3.6E+05 -1.4E+06 -2.8E+04
Landfill 3,9E+06 1,2E+06 1,3E+06 1,9E+04 6.6E+05 3.2E+04 3.1E+05 7.1E+03
H-tox USESmax
Rec dig h/e -3,2E+09 6,9E+08 1,2E+08 -7,9E+08 -4.4E+09 2.9E+08 -2.6E+08 -8.0E+08
Rec dig f -3,2E+09 6,2E+08 -4.5E+09 2.2E+08
Rec comp -3,1E+09 8,0E+08 -4.3E+09 3.9E+08
Incineration 3,6E+08 3,8E+08 7,6E+07 -1,9E+06 -8.9E+08 -8.2E+07 -3.1E+08 -6.3E+06
Landfill 8,8E+08 2,7E+08 3,0E+08 4,2E+06 1.5E+08 7.3E+06 6.9E+07 1.6E+06
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