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Climate Change and Solid Waste Management

Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of Diversion Alternatives Documents

The Draft Report and Draft Tool should not be used for purposes of greenhouse gas inventories, project-specific CEQA analysis, in the development of climate action plans or as a basis for policy decisions regarding organics management. The Draft Report and Draft Tool should not be cited, quoted, or copied.

Note: Unless otherwise stated, all documents in the table are provided in Adobe PDF format.

Draft Final Project Report Review

• CalRecycle LCA Workplan (1.5 MB)
• LCA Evaluation Matrix (199 KB)

October 2009 Draft Final Project Report *

• Draft Final Report (1.5 MB)
• Attachment RTI 1: LCA Factors and Rankings (199 KB)
• Attachment RTI 2: Baseline Scenarios (327 KB)
• Attachment RTI 3: Minimum Cost Scenario (363 KB)
• Attachment RTI 4: Minimum GHG Scenario (290 KB)
• Attachment RTI 5: Minimum Cost per GHG Targets Scenario (137 KB)
• Attachment RTI 6: Minimum Energy Scenario (302 KB)
• Attachment RWB 1: Baseline (290 KB)
• Attachment RWB 2: Minimum in Cost (333 KB)
• Attachment RWB 3: Minimum GHG (141 KB)
• Attachment RWB 4: Minimum Energy (123 KB)
• Attachment BC 1: Compost Report (640 KB)
• Attachment X: Literature Data Used to Estimate Energy and Emission Factors (5.2 MB)
• Draft Final Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Tool (Future revisions and user guide on hold pending funding.)

June 2009 Draft Project Report *

• Draft Final Report (1.5 MB)
• Attachment RTI 1: LCA Factors and Rankings (692 KB)
• Attachment RTI 2: Baseline Scenarios (755 KB)
• Attachment RTI 3: Minimum Cost Scenario (563 KB)
• Attachment RTI 4: Minimum GHG Scenario (596 KB)
• Attachment RTI 5: Minimum Cost per GHG Targets Scenario (479 KB)
• Attachment RTI 6: Minimum Energy Scenario (567 KB)
• Attachment RWB 1: Baseline (743 KB)
• Attachment RWB 2: Minimum in Cost (743 KB)
• Attachment RWB 3: Minimum GHG (729 KB)
• Attachment RWB 4: Minimum Energy (752 KB)
• Attachment BC 1: Compost Report (1.3 MB)
• Attachment X: Literature Data Used to Estimate Energy and Emission Factors (5.2 MB)
• Draft Final Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Tool

* Due to the lack of consensus about how to treat the issue of carbon sequestration in landfills, and in the interests of fully disclosing all information obtained on this issue during the course of the contract, CalRecycle is posting the October 2009 Final Draft Project Report and the June 2009 Draft Project Report. The greenhouse gas emissions from landfills are sensitive to the treatment of landfill carbon storage. These two reports illustrate the sensitivity of landfill emissions to the treatment of landfill carbon storage. In the June 2009 report findings, landfills are a net sink of greenhouse gas emissions while in the October 2009 report findings landfills are a source of greenhouse gas emissions. CalRecycle’s staff position is that it is technically correct to quantify and report the amount of carbon stored in a landfill. However, interpreting the carbon stored in a landfill as offsetting landfill methane emissions is inconsistent with the atmospheric flow approach that is currently being utilized in California.

Background Documents

• LCA Tool Evaluation (993 KB). This document contains RTI's results from the "Evaluation of Existing Municipal Solid Waste/Life Cycle Assessment (MSW/LCA) Tools”. To complete the tools evaluation, the project team reviewed 10 municipal solid waste (MSW) life cycle analysis tools that could be used in designing a California-specific tool that focuses on diversion alternatives and prepared a matrix that presents information on selected evaluation criteria for each of the tools. Consistent with the objectives of this work, emphasis was made on evaluating and comparing greenhouse gas (GHG) related estimation methodologies used in the different tools when modeling alternatives for waste management.
• Technical Approach for the Project (318 KB). This memorandum contains a detailed working description of the technical approach for completing the "Life Cycle Assessment of Organic Diversion Alternatives and Economic Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Options" study.
• Recycling Cost Analysis (76 KB). This document expands on the technical approach by providing additional details on the project team's approach to the recycling cost analysis. The document includes the following information:
  • Calculation methods of net operating and capital costs for recycling.
  • Calculation methods of recycling cost savings.
  • Definition of the categories of recyclable materials to be modeled.
  • Definition of the categories of collection systems and processing facilities to be modeled.
  • Description of the gathering methodology that will support the recycling cost analysis.
• Facilities Data Survey (251 KB). This Interim Report details the overall approach for collecting data from facilities, provides a summary of data obtained, and identifies associated uncertainties and limitations. Note that in this interim report, the results of the data collection survey are merely presented. Actual data that will be used for the LCA and economic analyses may differ to best represent state and regional averages, particularly in cases where data from only one facility was obtained.
• Compost Sampling and Analysis Report (1.2 MB). This report describes the research that was conducted to quantify, from a greenhouse gas and life cycle perspective, the benefits of applying compost to agricultural soils in California.
• Scenarios, Process Boundaries, and Key Data/Assumptions (851 KB). This report describes the approach for analyzing waste management scenarios and details the boundary conditions and working assumptions employed for each waste management alternative.

Workshop Presentations

April 19, 2010 | July 22, 2009 | February 2, 2009 | January 28, 2008

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