Evaluating Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management Scenarios for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: An Integrated Life Cycle Assessment and Geospatial Analysis

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-928-5_11How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Municipal solid waste; Life cycle assessment; Geographic information system

Abstract

Mongolia is facing increasing environmental threats related to waste management, including insufficient waste collection, limited treatment, and improper disposal. Over the years, the country has seen a dramatic rise in waste generation, posing a serious environmental threat. This study aims to develop a strategic framework to support decision-making in Ulaanbaatar, by promoting sustainable waste management through enhanced material recovery and recycling processes. The methodology employed in this study integrates life cycle assessment (LCA) with geospatial analysis using ArcGIS to construct and evaluate sustainable municipal solid waste management scenarios in the six central districts of Ulaanbaatar. LCA evaluates different scenarios and compares them in specific environmental contexts, including final solid waste, air, and water emissions. On the other hand, geospatial analysis is applied to identify the most suitable areas for different treatment facilities based on LCA results. According to the results of LCA, sanitary landfill will improve the current situation by lowering the global warming potential (GWP) and biological oxygen demand (BOD). Among all the proposed scenarios, Scenario 4 offered the best balance, achieving final total waste of 757,529 tons, a net reduction of greenhouse gases of 77,350 tons, and moderate BOD of 72 tons. Using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and restriction modelling, the GIS analysis identified suitable areas for three facilities, including materials recovery facility (MRF), refuse-derived fuel (RDF), and composting facilities. Overall, this study presents an integrated framework for sustainable waste management with minimal environmental impact. The study identifies the optimal treatment facilities based on scenario analysis and provides recommendations for decision-makers to improve waste management practices in Ulaanbaatar city.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Buyanbilig Namnansuren
AU  - Helmut Yabar
AU  - Takeshi Mizunoya
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/25
TI  - Evaluating Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management Scenarios for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: An Integrated Life Cycle Assessment and Geospatial Analysis
BT  - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference Resources and Technology (RESAT 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 128
EP  - 142
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-928-5_11
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-928-5_11
ID  - Namnansuren2025
ER  -