Integrated waste management: Environmental assessment and planning

An important aspect - although not the only one - in planning and developing a system for waste management is to optimise environmental benefits and minimise environmental damage. The purpose of this contribution is to outline a common approach to evaluating environmental impacts - Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) - and to show how it can be used in structured processes to plan and develop waste management policies and systems. LCA, also sometimes known as 'Cradle-to-Grave' Assessment, is a general approach to evaluating the total environmental impacts of providing a product or service [1]. © 2016 WIT Press.