Chemical or Natural? Including LCA in Social CBA to Compare Remediation Alternatives for a Dry-Cleaning Facility

Lies Huysegoms, Sandra Rousseau and Valérie Cappuyns
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Lies Huysegoms: Centre for Economics and Corporate Sustainability (CEDON), KU Leuven, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Valérie Cappuyns: Centre for Economics and Corporate Sustainability (CEDON), KU Leuven, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: The choice between remediation alternatives for contaminated sites is complicated by different elements, e.g., the occurrence of multiple contaminants, the extent of the contamination, or the urban location, complicate the choice between remediation alternatives. This paper addresses this challenging choice by analyzing a case study of an extensive soil and groundwater contamination by a dry-cleaning company. For remediating this site, two alternatives were proposed. The first remediation alternative combines several techniques with in-situ chemical oxidization being the most important one. Due to the potential negative impact of this alternative on local residents a second remediation alternative was drawn up, in which the focus lies on the use of stimulated biological degradation. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed on both alternatives and showed that the second alternative had a lower environmental impact. The inclusion of monetized LCA results in the calculation of a social Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) provided a more extensive view of the secondary environmental costs and benefits of the remediation alternatives. The results of the social CBA allow to conclude that both alternatives are not socially desirable, the chemical alternative however is socially less disadvantageous than the more natural remediation alternative.

Keywords: Life Cycle Assessment; social Cost-Benefit Analysis; dry cleaning; soil remediation; groundwater remediation; monetization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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