Carbon Footprint of Municipal Solid Waste Considering Selective Collection of Recyclable Waste

The amount of municipal solid waste generated in 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian megacity, was 21,834 tons/day of which 68.4% was destined to sanitary landfills and 9.9% to dumps. In 2012, Rio de Janeiro's city produced 1.6 millions of tons of CO2eq related to urban waste disposal. Therefore, this chapter evaluates the carbon footprint of selective collection of a case study in Rio de Janeiro. Six scenarios are developed to program the selective collection by regions of the city. From the results, it is possible to conclude that the scenario that considers the total selective collection emits an amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) 13% bigger than the business-as-usual scenario. On the other hand, the use of optimization route software could reduce the GHG emissions of the collection & transportation with the reduction of the total kilometers traveled.