Two-Stage Based Life Cycle and Principal Component Analysis for Decision Support of Potential Municipal Solid Wastes Management Scenarios, Case study Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

In most of the urban areas of Tanzania, poor and inadequate solid waste management is a growing environmental and public health concern. Despite an array of solid waste management options, choosing an appropriate one remains a challenge. This study applied a novel two-stage-based approach to assess the environmental impacts and sustainability performance of the 27 scenarios for municipal solid wastes (MSW) management of Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania. In the first stage, the study utilized a life cycle analysis (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts of MSW scenarios. In the second stage, the study used the principal component analysis (PCA) to assess the sustainability performance of the same. The LCA results indicated that no scenario performed better in all environmental impacts. The current SWM option, which involves landfilling most of the wastes at the Pugu landfill, leads to adverse environmental impacts and therefore poses an environmental and public health risks potential. The PCA results indicated that the scenario that involves the composting of organic wastes, recycling of the recyclable materials and landfilling the rest of the waste is the more sustainable option with a score of -1.7105. Based on the sensitivity analysis, the transportation process is responsible for the higher environmental burdens in most scenarios. Thus, promoting resource recovery at the premises of the waste generation would be crucial for minimizing the environmental impacts. This study demonstrated that the decision-makers could potentially use a combined LCA-PCA methodology to select the optimal MSW scenario.