Inventário do ciclo de vida de resíduos industriais classe II-A submetidos ao processo de compostagem por revolvimento de leiras

Abstract

Organic waste generation has progressively increased due to increasing consumption and population, and there is a social concern regarding the environmental impacts generated by its final destination. Composting stands out in this prognosis for its beneficial impacts on the environment, avoiding disposal in dumps and recycling this organic matter for new use. In order to manage waste, in 2014, the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS) law came into force. This law sets forth guidelines for solid waste management through proper disposal and treatment through reverse logistics following an order consisting of no generation, reduction, reuse, recycling, treatment and final disposal in landfills. Considering this conjuncture, we used in this research the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), identify, quantify and evaluate the environmental impacts associated with a service, process or product throughout its life cycle. The life cycle begins with the input of resources (energy, water, raw materials) into manufacturing and ends after the outputs return to the environment, the end of life. The collection of data and calculation procedures that determine the inputs and outputs of a system in order to quantify the consumption of raw materials, energy and other physical inputs and outputs consisting of products, atmospheric emissions, liquid effluents, solid waste and others. Environmental aspects are defined as Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). The aim of the present study was to elaborate the Life Cycle Inventory (ICV) of the industrial composting process by the windrow system in a company from the Campos Gerais region, Paraná. With ICV data, the life cycle impacts of the composting process were evaluated using the ReCiPe method. All results were presented in the categories of this method focusing on global warming potential. With the results found, it was possible to evaluate and quantify the environmental impacts generated in the composting stages, thus allowing the continuity of the study through the following stages of the LCA in other studies. The study showed that the industrial composting process by the windrow system has low environmental impact, which can be shown by comparing these results with other disposal methods in future studies. The research also contributes to the expansion of the LCA database in Brazil and worldwide, and can be used in future works of the same nature.