Multicriteria analysis of municipal solid wastes energy recovery technologies in Greece

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is the field of science which explores and evolves
strategies minimizing the final amount of wastes delivered to landfills and reducing the corresponding
pollution related to all stages of treatment and collection. In the best practices of MSW the inherent
energy of wastes is being recovered. In this study, the most appropriate energy recovery methods
utilizing MSW for Greece (i.e. Sorting plant at landfill site with biogas recovery and RDF production,
Incineration of MSW with small pre-treatment and Controlled landfill site with biogas recovery) are
investigated based on the composition of wastes, the compatibility of the methods with the EU
legislation, their technical availability, energy recovery capacity and contribution to the national
energy balance, as well as economic issues, the maturity of the technologies involved and the land
occupation requirements. A detailed multi-criteria analysis is applied considering the expected MSW
production of Greece until 2020 along with different scenarios of waste utilization. Based on the
results obtained, as well as on the elaboration of a sensitivity analysis, the “Controlled landfill”
method is designated as the most prevalent energy recovery method for Greece, although under
specific prioritization of the main parameters involved, the “Incineration” may be equally appropriate
as well.