Strategic environmental assessment as an approach to assess waste management systems. Experiences from an Austrian case study

Waste management has evolved from the simple transportation of waste to landfills to complex systems, including waste prevention and waste recycling as well as several waste treatment and landfill technologies. To assess the environmental, economical and social effects of waste management systems, several tools have been developed. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an approach for integrated assessment enhancing involvement in the planning of a decision supporting process. The aim of this paper is to show how SEA can be applied in a waste management context. For this purpose a case study is described where a SEA process was undertaken to develop a regional waste management plan. The approach from this case study is compared to other methods.