Investigating Waste Disposal Options for Metro Vancouver Solid Waste Management Plan

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the challenges the urban communities are facing throughout the world. Identification of optimal MSW management option(s) is difficult because of the complex and variable nature of MSW and the various environmental and economic criteria for a particular community. This research will mainly focus on studying Metro Vancouver MSW management plan alternatives that can be categorized as three main groups: (1) waste-to-energy incineration, (2) landfilling, and (3) refuse derived fuel (RDF) for combustion in a cement kiln. The main propose of this research is to support sustainability strategies of Cement Association of Canada (CAC) for using RDF as alternative energy source in cement manufacturing. State-of-the-art assessment methods such as environmental impact assessment (EIA), lifecycle assessment (LCA), and cost benefit analysis (CBA), will be used to evaluate

both short- and long-term environmental burdens and economic impacts of various options and to identify the more sustainable solution.

Faculty Supervisor:

Rehan Sadiq;Kasun Hewage

Student:

Partner:

Cement Association of Canada

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of British Columbia - Okanagan