Uzma Atta, Majid Hussain and Riffat Naseem Malik
The present study quantified environmental impacts of the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) value chain in
Pakistan for three consecutive years (2015–2018) using a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. Energy potential
from municipal solid wastes (MSW) was also predicted till the year 2050. Based on a functional unit of 1.0 tonne of MSW, the study
analyzed inputs and outputs data through SimaPro v.8.3 applying CML 2000 methodology and cumulative exergy demand indicator
(CExD). LCA revealed that operational activities of RWMC mainly contributed to marine aquatic ecotoxicity, i.e. 8962.83 kg1,4-
DBeq t−1 MSW, indicating long-range transport of petrogenic hydrocarbons from the company’s fleet gasoline combustion. Similarly,
human toxicity potential, global warming potential and freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential were also found to be significant,
i.e. 18.14 kg1,4-DBeq t−1 MSW, 15.79 kgCO2eq t−1 MSW and 6.22 kg1,4-DBeq t−1 MSW, respectively. The CExD showed that
company activities consumed 827.14MJ t−1 MSW exergy from nature, and gasoline used in MSW transport was the most exergyintensive process, using 634.47MJ exergy per tonne MSW disposed of. Projections for energy generation potential up to the year
2050 showed that MSW of Rawalpindi city will have the potential to produce 3901 megawatt of energy to fulfill the energy needs
of the country. Possible stratagems to reduce environmental impacts from the municipal solid waste management (MSWM) value
chain of RWMC include curtailing dependency on petrogenic and fossil fuels in mobile sources, optimization of waste collection
methods and dumping routes, inclining attention toward suitable wastes-to-energy conversion technology and opting for a holistic
approach of MSWM in Pakistan.