Greenhouse gas emissions from the integrated waste management system and the relevance at territorial scale: The case of the province of grosseto

In this study, we investigated the main emission sources of greenhouse gases from the waste management system in the Province of Grosseto (southern Tuscany - Italy). The estimation has been included in the general greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of the entire provincial territory for the year 2015. We analyzed the areal waste management system, from waste collection to specific treatment in landfill and five waste recycling plants available within the provincial boundaries. An incinerator is not installed in the area; however, we estimated the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) combustion in a hypothetical incinerator. Using the "2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories", we calculated carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from waste decomposition/incineration and from consumption of electricity and fossil fuels used in all waste management plants, contextualizing the results within the provincial GHG balance that includes energy, industrial and agriculture, land use & forest sectors. The study showed that the Province of Grosseto is not far from a "carbon neutral" status in 2015 and the waste sector covers a relevant part of gross emissions (15.4% of the total). Overall, this waste management system is rather fragmented and improvements in organization and plant selection and connection may help achieve 100% compensation of GHG emission for the Province. We also found that the plant with the greatest impact is the landfill (55.78% of the waste plant emissions). A bottom-up data collection approach has been adopted, generating an overall uncertainty of 14.9% for the GHG inventory. In conclusion, the GHG inventory is a tool able to suggest and validate environmental strategies to reduce the climate impact from waste management, resulting in positive feedbacks on the overall GHG balance of the territory, and influencing the environmental quality and the socio-economic infrastructure of the Province.