ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Life Cycle Assessment for Solid Waste Disposal
Options in Malaysia
Sanaz Saheri1, Masoud Aghajani Mir1, Noor Ezlin Ahmad Basri2,
Noor Zalina Binti Mahmood3, Rawshan Ara Begum4
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1Department of Environmental Management, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, National University of Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Malaysia
3Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science Building, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur
4Institute of Environment and Development (LESTARI), UKM, Bangi
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(5):1377-1382
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The largest percentage of MSW in Malaysia is contributed by the state of Selangor, with a 3,923 tons
generated daily. Therefore, the aim of this study is to consider the current condition of the open dumps and
sanitary landfills in Selangor from an environmental point of view. Moreover, the local authorities of Malaysia
prefer to use landfills that have no liners, biogas capture, and many others as a method of getting rid of collected
waste. In Malaysia, this is the first time life cycle assessment (LCA) is being used. In this study, LCA
is used to weigh up different treatment scenarios and SimaPro7 (2006) software with CML 2 base line 2000
v2.04 methodology applied to model the three scenarios. Research has shown that all scenarios have a high
amount of different potential impacts. Further analysis illustrated that S3 (100% sanitary landfill) is more
preferable than the others because of its low contribution on eutrophication, global warming and photochemical
oxidation impacts. Results also confirmed that landfilling, which is the current waste disposal method for
the country, is not a preferable method environmentally. Further studies should involve other decision-making
tools and a wide range of scenarios that consider the economic and social effects of solid waste management
methods to introduce environmentally and economically preferable methods to the Malaysian authorities.