1. IntroductionManagement of munici

1. Introduction
Management of municipal solid waste is an efficient method to
both increase resource efficiency (material and energy recovery
instead of landfill disposal) and to replace fossil fuels with renewable
energy sources (waste is renewable in itself to a large extent as
it contains paper, wood, food waste etc.).
In this paper the general outline and results from a comprehensive
system study of future waste management in the Gothenburg
region is presented. The purpose of the system study was to
evaluate new waste treatment options for municipal and industrial
waste from a system perspective. In the study a multifunctional
waste management system integrated with local energy systems
for district heating and electricity, wastewater treatment, agriculture
and vehicle fuel production is investigated with respect to
environmental impact and financial economy. Different waste
technologies as well as management strategies have been tested.
The treatment is facilitated through advanced sorting (source
separation of recyclable materials and MRFs (Material Recovery
Facility) for both bulky waste and source separated household
waste), efficient treatment facilities (thermal and biological
treatment) and upgrading of output products (biogas as vehicle fuel
and pelletisation of digestion sludge for use as fuel or as fertiliser in
fields or forestry). The future district heating system comprises
waste CHP (Combined Heat and Power) and waste heat (excess
heat) as base load and bio-CHP, natural gas-CHP and heat pumps as
intermediate load while oil is peak-load. Thermal and biological
treatment of waste is included and several scenarios of future waste
management have been developed comprising a number of
parameters for the background system and different waste amount
growth rates.
The project has been carried out as a part of the project Thermal
and biological waste treatment in a systems perspective e WR21
[1]. The focus has been set to the waste and district heating system
in Gothenburg. The project has been running for 2.5 years with an
active group consisting of persons from Renova, Kretsloppskontoret,
Göteborg Energi, Gryaab and Profu. The work on development
of models and methods for handling strategic questions
within the field has gone back and forth within the group.