Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a globally recognized environmental issue. The concepts of sustainability and the circular economy have progressed MSW management system from basic disposal to recycling and resource recovery. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the technique that has been widely used to analyse MSW management system. However, the reliability of results is deeply influenced by the methodology, quality of data, and robustness of the analyses. This raises two questions: how to improve the quality of LCA work, and how to select the appropriate MSW management strategy for practice? To answer these questions, we have conducted a critical review of 79 scientific studies from 36 low-to-high income countries. The review examines the scientific community's application of LCA to MSW management and identifies the best practices to follow for a good-quality study. Then after categorically assessing the results of the studies, a ranking of appropriate MSW management scenarios is made. Results reveal that the objective of an LCA study is subjective but a decisive factor that defines the procedure of subsequent steps. Differences are found among the practitioners, especially in study boundaries, selection of impact categories, choice of input data and analysis methods. Sensitivity analysis is critical for producing reliable results but was not performed in around 38% of the studies. Our analysis also reveals that the integration of recycling, treatment and disposal technologies is the most appropriate strategy. The choice of technologies and their performance, however, depends on the technological and socio-economic background of the studied region.
Keywords: Critical review; Integrated waste management system; Life cycle assessment; Municipal solid waste.
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