1. Environmental Impact Assessment for Waste Treatment Options
Seung Hoon LEE

2. Objectives and Structures
To overview the waste management system
To introduce Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for evaluation of waste management options
To compare the potential impact assessment by IWM-2 Model
To predict the assessing impacts which may be significant in relation to waste management options

3. Waste Management System
Waste is an inevitable part of our daily life
NIMBY, PIMFY, BANANA Syndrome
Waste Management Hierarchy
• No scientific/ technical basis
• No economic assessment
• No environmental/ economic
comparisons between each other

4. Life Cycle Assessment for Waste Management
Four stages in LCA
Impact Assessment
Improvement
Assessment
Goal and scoping
Inventory Analysis
Source: SETAC 1999

5. Waste Management Facility Life-Cycle
Design and Planning
Permission and Licensing
Construction
Commission and Operation
Closure or Decommissioning
Post-Closure Monitoring

6. Waste Management Options Definition in EIA
Is there a need for the facility?
What management or disposal processes are in demand relative to the waste arising?
What is the current management and disposal capacity?
What size would the facility need to be, and does this represent an acceptable economic scale of activity?
Where would the facility best be located, in market terms?

7. Waste Management Facility Site Selection
To maximize conformance of the site characteristics with the project specification
To minimize environmental impacts
To maximize acceptability of the project by the local community
To minimize the cost of the development

8. Factors Influencing Waste Management Options

9. Sustainability Indicators for Waste Management
Short term
Long term
Economic Aspects
Investment cost, net operation, total net cost per collected ton, net annual total cost
Long term viability of collection and sorting operations and final disposal
Environmental Aspects
Quantity, quality of material recovered, local and regional health effects, residues, pollution, noise, landfill usage, natural resources used
Global impact: bio-diversity, global warning, acid rain: landscape, electricity consumption, waste produced, water usage
Social Aspects
Public acceptance, participation, employment
Welfare, natural resources availability
Technical Aspects
Scale, flexibility, market potential
Potential for future development

10. Environmental Impact Assessment Stages
Screening: regulatory authority to identify the need of EIA
Scooping: identified key issues from a board range of
potential concerns
Assessing: direct, indirect, secondary, cumulative, short
and long term, permanent, temporary, positive,
and negative
Mitigation: reduce the undesirable impacts of a proposed
action
Monitoring: environmental compliance with local
regulations/effectiveness of the mitigation
measures
Reporting: preparation of reporting
Reviewing: reviewing before approval

11. Significance of Impacts for Different Options
Landfill
Incineration
Biological
Treatment
Odour
ooo oo
Health Risk
(Inhalation)
oooo o
Landfill Gases -
Leachate
Traffic
Noise
Visual Effect
Dust
Accidents
O Increasing significance, - Negligible significance

12. Scoping of the Environmental Impact on Waste Management facilities
Potential issues
Impacts on the environment
Population
Perceived and actual public health risks nuisance
Transport
Traffic generated during construction, operation and restoration
Noise and vibration
Increased noise levels during construction, traffic noise including reversing alarms
Ecology
Loss of habitat and protected species from restoration of minerals workings
Land and soils
Land contamination, temporary loss of agricultural land
Water
Leachate from landfill – pollution of surface or groundwaters
Air and climate
Landfill gas, odour, dust and particulates, pollutants from incomplete combustion
Cultural heritage
Loss of heritage features
Landscape
Change or loss of valued landscape

13. Public Health No human activity is risk-free
Potential risks to the public:
Accidental emissions and discharges to air, water and land
Emissions and discharges during routine operation by poor design or operational practices
High level of noise, high dust level during constructing of waste management facilities
Appropriate management systems: prevention plans, emergency plans, regular inspection
Open management of waste management facilities disclose emissions data, discuss operations, encourage site visits, respond promptly to complaints

14. Transport
Significantly increase road traffic: nuisance to residents and road users (noise, fear)
Risks of an accident involving hazardous wastes
Air pollution: vehicle exhausts, dust/dirty from vehicle carrying dusty waste/residues such as ash
Mitigation of Transport:
- No transport routes through residential areas
- Appropriate road condition for a significant increase in heavy vehicle traffic
- Speed restrictions on vehicles entering and leaving the site

15. Monitoring and Auditing
Monitoring for noise, dust and odour issues
Water quality of leachate, surface water and groundwater
Traffic management plan
Air monitoring at source
Visual impact, ecology, land restoration
Any relevant public health indicators
Any kind of social impacts

16. Public Consultation Environmental awareness
Understanding of environmental issues associated with waste management options
Critical to open decision-making and should begin as early as possible in the EIA process
Faithful public consultation process (conference format rather than domenstration format)
NIMBYY syndrome (concern over property value, visual impact)
Emissions: long term health effects

17. Conclusions
EIA needs to be fully understood and taken into account in order to prevent or minimize potential impacts on the environment.
EIA is quite comprehensive assessment because it requires possibly all kind of future impacts in the environment to be reviewed, mitigated, and monitored by professional expert.
Without proper implementing of EIA for waste management project, the future is unlikely to stray far from the common social syndrome known as “ NOT IN MY BACKYARD”.