Comparative life cycle assessment of organic municipal waste: a case study, Riga, Latvia

Main Presenter:    Haniyeh Jalalipour 

Co-Authors:   Rieke Anderson     Fabian Gievers      Michael Nelles                                    

Despite EU directives promoting waste prevention, recycling, and recovery, the management
of municipal solid waste in Riga remains heavily dependent on landfill. This study explores how
alternative biowaste treatment strategies could reduce environmental impact and support
Latvia’s transition to a circular economy. We compare the current waste system with potential
future pathways that increase the rate of biowaste source separation.

A comparative life cycle assessment was conducted using openLCA software and the
ecoinvent 3.10 database. The analysis adhered to ISO 14040/44 standards, applying the
ReCiPe 2016 method at midpoint and endpoint levels. The functional unit was defined as the
treatment of 243000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per year at the Getliņi facility.
The results suggest that diverting waste from landfill towards composting would lead to small
but consistent improvements. The most notable benefits were found in the categories of
freshwater and marine ecotoxicity and eutrophication, where impacts decreased as
dependence on landfill decreased. Climate change impacts also decline moderately, while
savings in terms of resources diminish due to lower energy recovery from biogas. Human
health impacts remain largely unaffected as these are dominated by background processes.

Overall, the findings suggest that, even at modest levels of separate collection, composting
provides measurable ecological advantages. However, its wider success will depend on
supportive policy, infrastructure, and market development.

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