The final disposal of urban solid waste has become a major concern in a world where urbanization is a trend. In this study three different systems were analyzed by accounting renewable, non-renewable and paid resources in a common basis, with the emergy accounting methodology, so it is possible to obtain ratios and indices that aid the comprehension, management and enable the comparison among the three system: landfill, pyrolysis and plasma arc. The systems are now operating, except for the arc plasma, which is under implementation in the municipality of Hortolândia-SP. The indices show that the landfill with electricity production is the system with better performance for 5 out of 6 indexes. For every gram of USW treated, the landfill can produce $$1.78\,\times \,1016$$ joules of electricity, which means that this system is 5 times more efficient than the pyrolisis and the plasma arc systems in this scope.