Assessment of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Municipal Solid Wastes Management System: A Case Study

In pursuance of the Saudi vision 2030, the Al-Hasa municipality has been allocating a total of US$ 60.1 million since 2018 to the implementation of a modern Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) management system. In addition to the improved old components, the system involves six new-engineered cells, five of which will be gradually implemented in progresses, two waste sort-out lines station, and LFG energy recovery. The present research aimed at investigating the environmental and economic impacts of this MSW management system. For this purpose, the authors applied the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Life Cycle Costs Analysis (LCCA) approaches. The main results showed that the air quality was not affected. For instance, gas emission, like carbon monoxide, was less than 0.1 ppm. However, soil and groundwater were contaminated due to leachate infiltration from the uncontrolled cell in which Chloride, Nitrate, and Sulfate exceeded the maximum limits. As for noise, it was found to be high near the sorting-out station at 71.1 Leq dBA. In terms of the financial aspect, the improved MSW management was relatively feasible despite its high costs over its revenues. Thus, the negative cash-flow could be supplemented by setting household taxes at US$ 29 per capita per year, which makes the project cost-effective. Thus, the research recommends continuing the MSW management project.