ANÁLISIS COMPARATIVO DE HERRAMIENTAS DE ANÁLISIS DEL CICLO DE VIDA APLICADAS A EVALUACIÓN DE SISTEMAS DE GESTIÓN DE RESIDUOS URBANOS

Abstract

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodology is considered the most efficient tool to obtain an objective quantification of the environmental impacts caused by waste management systems. Along the last years, a wide variety of software which facilitate the performance of LCA studies, specifically applied to waste management, have been developed. Nevertheless, not only the functionalities and scope but also the inventory models which they provide are very diverse. Therefore, in order to obtain robust and reliable results, it becomes critical to know the possibilities and limitations of these tools, as well as the influence that the applied tool can have on the obtained results. Thus, the object of this paper is performing a complete comparative analysis of the main software –not only commercial but also free software- available to apply LCA methodology to the environmental evaluation of waste management systems. All these tools will be applied on the same study case, in order to detect the influence of the applied tool on the results, and to be able to select the most adaptable one for the performance of these types of studies at a national level. Keywords: life cycle analysis; LCA; waste management system