A standard plastic garbage bag which was discarded from Incheon Metropolitan City was composed of 4.5% recyclable resources (aluminum cans 0.2%, steel cans 2.5%, glass 1.8%), 92.5% resources with recoverable energy (papers 23.0%, plastics 15.5%, combu...
A standard plastic garbage bag which was discarded from Incheon Metropolitan City was composed of 4.5% recyclable resources (aluminum cans 0.2%, steel cans 2.5%, glass 1.8%), 92.5% resources with recoverable energy (papers 23.0%, plastics 15.5%, combustible etc. 54.0%) and 3.0% non-combustible etc. Recycling is more effective than landfilling for aluminum cans, steel cans, and glass. The energy recovery process using solid refuse fuel (SRF) is more effective than incineration for papers and plastics. Incineration is more effective than recycling for combustible etc. 2,068,948 Million Btu of total energy savings and 21,008 $MTCO_2E$ of total GHG reductions were obtained by the application of the proposed scheme. The total energy savings were equivalent to an economic benefit of 422 billion won per year. The total GHG reductions were equivalent to a GHG benefit of 4,119 passenger cars not running per year. The lower calorific value of the combustible materials was obtained to be 1,936 kcal/kg of papers, 5,079 kcal/kg of plastics and 2,462 kcal/kg of combustible other resources, respectively. If papers and plastics are properly mixed, the mixture can be used as SRF. The lower calorific value of combustible other resources does not meet the quality criteria for refuse derived fuel, therefore its components are inappropriate to used as solid refuse fuel.