SAVI: International Institute for Solid Waste Management Life-Cycle Modeling

1437498 (Barlaz). Globally, over one billion tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) are generated annually and this is predicted to double by 2025 due to increases in population, urbanization, and economic development. U.S. solid waste systems processed approximately 250 million tons of waste in 2011. The direct emissions from landfilling, composting, and combustion of U.S. waste resulted is an estimated 2% of U.S. GHG emissions, mostly CO2. MSW contains significant quantities of materials that can be utilized for resource and energy recovery, making the solid waste management (SWM) system a highly visible and potentially high-impact target for enhancing environmental sustainability. The primary goal of the SAVI (Science Across Virtual Institutes) effort is to establish a self-supporting virtual (internet-based) institute to enhance research, education, and outreach related to the life-cycle assessment (LCA) of SWM systems. Two leading solid waste LCA models are SWOLF developed at NC State University and EASETECH developed at the Technical University of Denmark, the principal collaborative partners. It is anticipated that in the U.S. additional participants in the virtual institute will include faculty at universities such as Columbia University, Clarkson University, Rutgers University, and the University of South Carolina, among others. The overall objective is to become the leading global institute for the application of LCA to SWM. Specific research objectives are to (1) collaboratively review, gather, analyze, and report key SWM LCA and cost model data, assumptions, and practices from EASETECH and SWOLF to identify best practices, data, and future needs, (2) fuse models in SWOLF and EASTECH frameworks to develop a consolidated set of solid waste process models and datasets that present consistent descriptions of solid waste collection, treatment, and disposal processes, (3) develop a public data and model management repository to encourage and facilitate future collaboration, knowledge exchange, and model integration, and (4) develop instructional materials, articles, and workshops that enhance understanding of life-cycle solid waste resource management from an international perspective. LCA research on solid waste has broad impacts since it is used to inform decisions on the environmental sustainability of all products and packaging that require management at the end of their useful life. The dissemination of advanced process models will provide a significant service to students and practitioners internationally.

The project objectives will be achieved through three major tasks; (1) develop consistent and unified data and process models, (2) implement a series of international joint research meetings and workshops to collaborate, publicize results, and create a framework for future institute meetings, training sessions, and workshops, and (3) develop the necessary data and software infrastructure to create a self-sustaining SWM life-cycle institute that will continue to provide resources, instructional content, and opportunities for collaboration among solid waste life-cycle researchers, educators, practitioners, and students from around the world. LCA research on solid waste has broad impacts since it is used to inform decisions on the environmental sustainability of all products and packaging that require management at the end of their useful life. Project impacts include research advances, as well as international education and dissemination to students, researchers and practitioners. The work to fuse process models and data will advance the state-of-the-art of the application of LCA to solid waste systems analysis. The fused models will provide improved and accessible tools to researchers, policymakers and private sector decision makers. This SAVI effort will result in the development of workshops and on-line tools for instruction and training. Workshops will be recorded and made available for free to promote learning, understanding and accessibility. This is particularly significant in consideration of the current state-of-the-practice. There are numerous graduate students throughout the world working in solid waste LCA that do not have access to state-of-the-art data or information, and this SAVI will change that. Furthermore, both the commercially available and open source LCA models are simplistic in their treatment of waste and materials management, and this SAVI will address that simplicity.

This grant is a Science Across Virtual Institutes (SAVI) award and is co-funded by NSF's Office of International and Integrative Activities (OIIA), the Office of the Assistant Director for Engineering (OAD/ENG), and CBET/ENG's Environmental Engineering and Environmental Sustainability programs.