ADVERTIMENT. Lʼaccés als continguts dʼaquesta tesi queda condicionat a lʼacceptació de les condicions dʼús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://cat.creativecommons.org/?page_id=184 ADVERTENCIA. El acceso a los contenidos de esta tesis queda condicionado a la aceptación de las condiciones de uso establecidas por la siguiente licencia Creative Commons: http://es.creativecommons.org/blog/licencias/ WARNING. The access to the contents of this doctoral thesis it is limited to the acceptance of the use conditions set by the following Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en Understanding Waste Flows An industrial ecology approach to the generation of waste, its flows and the connection it has with economic shifts. A case study of the Maltese Islands. MARGARET CAMILLERI-FENECH Supervisors: Prof. Xavier Gabarrell Durany Dr. Jordi Oliver-Solà Dr. Ramon Farreny Gaya July 2020 A thesis submitted in the fulfilment of the requirements for the PhD degree in Environmental Science and Technology, Institut de Ciencia i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) The present thesis titled “Understanding Waste Flows. An industrial ecology approach to the generation of waste, its flows and the connection it has with economic shifts. A case study of the Maltese Islands” has been carried out at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) under the supervision of Prof. Xavier Gabarrell Durany, Dr Jordi Oliver i Sola and Dr Ramon Farreny Gaya. Bellaterra, 2020 Xavier Gabarrell-Durany Jordi Oliver-Solà Ramon Farreny Gaya Professor, Chemical Engineering CEO, inèdit Senior eco-innovation TABLE OF CONTENTS List of acronyms, abbreviations and notations ........................................................................................................................ ii Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................................................. vii Dedication .................................................................................................................................................................................. ix Summary of Chapters ................................................................................................................................................................. x Introduction and Framework ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.2 The generation and management of waste in Malta ............................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Municipal solid waste ............................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Construction and demolition waste ...................................................................................................................................... 10 1.5 Commercial and industrial waste ........................................................................................................................................... 12 1.6 The Maltese economy ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 1.7 Resources ............................................................................................................................................................................... 15 1.8 Political system ....................................................................................................................................................................... 16 1.9 Motivation .............................................................................................................................................................................. 16 1.10 Objectives ............................................................................................................................................................................. 19 Methodology............................................................................................................................................................ 21 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 22 2.2 Systems boundary .................................................................................................................................................................. 23 Research 1 ................................................................................................................................................................................ 24 Research 2 ................................................................................................................................................................................ 25 Research 3 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 25 2.3 The tools that characterise the methodology of the dissertation .......................................................................................... 26 2.3.1 Material Flow Analysis (RESEARCH 1) ............................................................................................................................. 26 2.3.2 Carbon footprint (Research 1 – Chapter 3) ..................................................................................................................... 28 2.3.3 Leontief Input-Output Analysis (Research 2 – Chapter 4) ............................................................................................... 30 2.3.4 Mixed methodology ........................................................................................................................................................ 31 Where do islands put their waste? A material flow and carbon footprint analysis of municipal waste in the Maltese Islands. ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 35 3.2 The management of Municipal Waste in Malta – Infrastructure and legal framework ......................................................... 36 3.3 GHG emissions, waste and related policy .............................................................................................................................. 38 3.3.1 Accounting for waste related GHG Emissions ................................................................................................................. 39 3.4 Materials and methods........................................................................................................................................................... 40 3.4.1 System boundary............................................................................................................................................................. 40 3.4.2 Materials ......................................................................................................................................................................... 41 3.4.3 Methods .......................................................................................................................................................................... 43 3.5 Results and discussion ............................................................................................................................................................ 43 3.5.1 The 2012 CO2ZW® analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 44 3.5.2 Material Flow Analysis of the proposed 2018 system(s)................................................................................................. 46 3.6 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................................................. 52 An input-output examination of the economic-ecological connections of waste generation. A case-study of Maltese Islands. ....................................................................................................................................................................................