Modelling solid waste recycling processes under the consideration of data defects

Abstract

Secondary resources are not derived from mining or chemical processes compared to primary resources. They are resources that had been already in use and are processed afterwards. Some secondary resources may be waste material in their original application but they might be useful in other applications. The goal of each recycling process should be to generate material streams with a quality that ensures further usage in any way. Since it is not possible to achieve this goal for all life cycles the goal has to be to maintain specific material properties as long as possible. It is desirable to forecast specific material properties for choosing processes with the best performance. A rough prediction on material flows, costs and environmental impacts can be assessed through combining the methods Material Flow Assessment (MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). But these methods lack of the description of material properties and their variations and uncertainties respectively. Uncertainties are related to data defects. The presented chapter will demonstrate a strategy for developing a recycling model that is able to handle data defects. Future prospects of the quality of secondary resources, including their input and output properties may be helpful to assess their potential to substitute primary resource for example. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.