International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

kg kg antimony antimony eq.
eq.
966
4. Freshwater Aquatic Eco-Toxicity
5. Acidification
6. Eutrophication
These will be considered within each of the sections that follow.
62.1.1.1 Abiotic Resource Depletion
Abiotic Resource Depletion can be defined as the decreasing availability of natural,
non-living, non renewable resources. Within the context of waste management this is
likely to be related to the ability of treatment processes to generate energy, or to
reduce the requirement for energy and raw material use through the recycling of
materials. The default assessment in WRATE considers these impacts in terms of kg
antimony equivalent.
The results presented in Figure 62-1 indicate that the best performer is the Arrowbio
AD-based MBT facility. Landfill is the worst performing option against this assessment
criterion, with the Dundee incinerator the second worst performer. However all
options result in a negative value as each either generates energy or recycles some of
the input waste stream.
Figure 62-1: Abiotic Resource Depletion (AD)
0.00
-0.50
-1.00
-1.50
-2.00
-2.50
-3.00
29/09/09
Landfill Ecodeco
MBT
-0.46
-1.67
Generic
Aero MBT
-1.42
Generic
AD MBT
-1.76
AD
Arrowbio
MBT
-2.84
Incin Elec
C
-2.20
Incin Elec
D
-1.08
Incin Elec
B
-1.60
Incin CHP
C
-2.00
Incin CHP
G
The majority of the impact is from avoidance of the use of gas as a result of energy
generation. Facilities also gain from the avoided oil use. The Arrowbio AD-based MBT
plant performs best under the assessment owing to the relatively high levels of
material recycling assumed, alongside generation of energy through combustion of
biogas.
-2.43