Household Organic Waste Collection Strategies: Economic and Environmental Assessment

ABSTRACT As of January 2024, under Directive 2018/851, European Union Member States are required to implement selective collection and treatment of household organic waste, targeting landfill reduction and transition towards a circular economy. Different strategies within the reverse supply chain present distinct environmental and economic implications. This study assesses three selective collection strategies in Setúbal, Portugal: (1) door‐to‐door, with containers placed at property entrances for scheduled collection; (2) bring‐point system (excluding green bags); and (3) bring‐point system (including green bags). In both bring‐point strategies, users deposit waste in public containers periodically emptied by municipal lorries. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to quantify environmental impacts, following ISO 14040 and the Product Environmental Footprint methodology. Primary data from Setúbal's operations were modelled in SimaPro 9.5.0.2, complemented with secondary data from Ecoinvent. Economic impacts were assessed using Life Cycle Costing (LCC), considering container manufacture and transport, washing of household containers, selective collection and transport to treatment and production and distribution of green bags. Results indicate that the bring‐point strategy excluding green bags had the lowest environmental and economic impacts. The bring‐point strategy including green bags exhibited the highest impacts, while door‐to‐door showed intermediate performance. Recommendations include expanding the bring‐point strategy excluding green bags, standardising 10 L containers to reduce washing‐related impacts, optimising collection routes and progressively adopting low‐emission vehicles. Despite geographical and data‐related limitations, the results provide practical insights for municipalities aiming to comply with EU legislation and support the transition towards efficient circular management of household organic waste.