Efficiency, effectiveness and management in industrial selection plants for multimaterial separate collection of Municipal Solid Waste

This paper analyses multi-material Separate Collection (SC) of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management systems, focusing on multi-material selection plant. Different kinds of multi-material separate collections have been investigated, with particular attention to the Italian and European situation. After the classification process, a simplified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of these different multi-material separate collections has been studied, from collection to final disposal (recycling, energy recovery, landfill). The paper measures the impact of multi-material selection plant both on quantity and quality of products send to recycling; moreover, the paper compares selection plants total energy consumption with energy savings from waste recycling or energy recovery. The results show that multi-material separate collections are competitive in comparison to mono-material ones only when multi-material separate collection selection plant efficiency and effectiveness are kept high.