Environmental Life Cycle Costing and Sustainability: Insights from Pollution Abatement and Resource Recovery in Wastewater Treatment

The relationship between environmental life cycle costing (ELCC) and sustainability was explored using two detailed wastewater case studies. The case studies were selected to increase the tension between existing market values and values for sustainability; the first case study considered incremental change to an existing plant and the second considered a paradigm shift in wastewater treatment. Pollution control provided the greatest cost savings for the first case study and provided a “win‐win” result—meeting existing standards and saving money. However, benefits for pollution control beyond current standards were not captured, which emphasized the role of standards to internalize as well as limit the values considered in ELCC. In the second case study, the value of water had the potential to change the focus of wastewater design from pollution abatement to resource recovery. However, social acceptance of recovered water and market access for resources created large risk for investment. The ELCC was also sensitive to the discount rate which limited longer‐term considerations. Other sustainability values such as scarcity and ecological thresholds were not captured. The ELCC code of practice suggests including such costs if likely in the foreseeable future; defining these values may also clarify the role of ELCC to evaluate sustainability over the life cycle.