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Environmental and energy benefits of a company from alternative solid waste metal management using the WARM model

Chorinos Alexandros

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Summary

Solid waste management has historically constituted one of the most important challenges of environmental policy, especially for the industrial sector. In the metals sector, this challenge is even more intense, since: (1) metallic waste is characterized by high recoverable potential, and (2) their production and processing are associated with high energy consumption and significant greenhouse gas emissions. This paper focuses on the assessment of the environmental and energy benefits that can arise from the management of metallic waste of an aluminum production industry, through the use of the WARM (Waste Reduction Model) tool of the U.S. EPA. WARM allows the calculation of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions for different solid waste management scenarios, such as recycling, landfilling, etc. In addition, for a better understanding of the environmental and energy benefits, we converted the emission results into equivalent diagrams showing cars, liters of gasoline, and propane cylinders. The paper was based on real data from the year 2024 of a large Greek metal industry, which produced 45,739 tons of secondary aluminum billets, using 51,262 tons of incoming materials. The difference of 5,523 tons constitutes residual material, the management of which is the main subject of evaluation. The scenarios examined are as follows: 1. 0–100% recycling 2. 0–100% landfilling The aim of the paper is to determine the percentage of CO₂ that can be avoided in each case and to highlight the optimal waste management strategy. Keywords: Recycling, Waste Reduction Model (WARM), Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Aluminum, Sustainable Waste Management.

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