Abstract
Daejeon Metropolitan City (DMC) in Korea generated approximately 1,469 ton/day of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2012 and recycled about 66.5% of the total MSW. DMC is trying to adopt all possible measures towards achieving a zero-waste society by incorporating 4R’s (i.e., reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery). As a part of material recycling and waste-to-energy recovery efforts, DMC plan to construct a number of waste recycling and recovery facilities in the coming years. The recycling and waste-to-energy facilities include mechanical treatment facility, refuse-derived fuel (RDF) facility with a power generation plant, and anaerobic digestion of food waste for biogas recovery. In this study, we focus on the estimation of energy recovery potential of MSW in DMC and their corresponding greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction potentials when the facilities are in operation. The primary data required for this study were obtained from available national statistics and reports, literature review, and interviews with local authorities and industry experts. Waste Reduction Model (WARM) developed by the US EPA was employed to estimate the GHG emission reduction potentials from the different waste management practices such as composting, landfilling, recycling and incineration before and after the introduction of the recycling and waste-to-energy facilities. This study would help waste management decision-makers to clarify the effectiveness of recycling of MSW, their corresponding energy potentials (conversion to a form of energy) and reduced GHG potentials.
