Environmental Sustainability of Solid Waste Management: A Comprehensive Review Utilizing Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

Sustainability assessment guides stakeholders in waste management, informing decisions to minimize environmental, economic, and social impacts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), being one of the sustainability assessment techniques evaluates these impacts throughout the waste management cycle, supporting a transition to a circular economy. Therefore, based on a critical review of numerous case studies utilizing the LCA approach from all over the world, this study offers a thorough examination of the sustainability elements of waste management practices that have been adopted by various municipal bodies. The study evaluates various functional units and multiple impact assessment methodologies, including IPCC, CML, ILCD, and ReCiPe, to comprehensively assess the recent trends with respect to the environmental impacts, emphasizing global warming potential and other key categories. Moreover, this study investigates and compares various waste management scenarios, including landfilling, RDF production, and waste-to-energy systems, that have been considered in various research studies. The study's findings highlight the diverse approaches in waste management, emphasizing the importance of environmental considerations and ongoing efforts for optimization toward sustainability. Municipal officials, policymakers, and stakeholders can utilize this study for developing waste management impact-reduction strategies. It also provides valuable data for scholars and researchers interested in sustainable waste management. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.