IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/recore/v92y2014icp214-221.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental impacts of different food waste resource technologies and the effects of energy mix

Author

Listed:
  • Zhao, Yan
  • Deng, Wenjing

Abstract

The environmental impacts of food waste management strategies and the effects of energy mix were evaluated using a life cycle assessment model, EASEWASTE. Three different strategies involving landfill, composting and combined digestion and composting as core technologies were investigated. The results indicate that the landfilling of food waste has an obvious impact on global warming, although the power recovery from landfill gas counteracts some of this. Food waste composting causes serious acidification (68.0PE) and nutrient enrichment (76.9PE) because of NH3 and SO2 emissions during decomposition. Using compost on farmland, which can marginally reduce global warming (−1.7PE), acidification (−0.8PE), and ecotoxicity and human toxicity through fertilizer substitution, also leads to nutrient enrichment as neutralization of emissions from N loss (27.6PE) and substitution (−12.8PE). A combined digestion and composting technology lessens the effects of acidification (−12.2PE), nutrient enrichment (−5.7PE), and global warming (−7.9PE) mainly because energy is recovered efficiently, which decreases emissions including SO2, Hg, NOx, and fossil CO2 during normal energy production. The change of energy mix by introducing more clean energy, which has marginal effects on the performance of composting strategy, results in apparently more loading to acidification and nutrient enrichment in the other two strategies. These are mainly because the recovered energy can avoid fewer emissions than before due to the lower background values in power generation. These results provide quantitative evidence for technical selection and pollution control in food waste management.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhao, Yan & Deng, Wenjing, 2014. "Environmental impacts of different food waste resource technologies and the effects of energy mix," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 214-221.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:92:y:2014:i:c:p:214-221
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2014.07.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344914001487
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resconrec.2014.07.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Björklund, Anna & Finnveden, Göran, 2005. "Recycling revisited—life cycle comparisons of global warming impact and total energy use of waste management strategies," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 309-317.
    2. Dorothy Blair & Jeffery Sobal, 2006. "Luxus Consumption: Wasting Food Resources Through Overeating," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(1), pages 63-74, March.
    3. Boldrin, Alessio & Hartling, Karin R. & Laugen, Maria & Christensen, Thomas H., 2010. "Environmental inventory modelling of the use of compost and peat in growth media preparation," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1250-1260.
    4. Emery, Andrew & Davies, Anthony & Griffiths, Anthony & Williams, Keith, 2007. "Environmental and economic modelling: A case study of municipal solid waste management scenarios in Wales," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 244-263.
    5. Rehl, T. & Müller, J., 2011. "Life cycle assessment of biogas digestate processing technologies," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 92-104.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Campoy-Muñoz, P. & Cardenete, M.A. & Delgado, M.C., 2017. "Economic impact assessment of food waste reduction on European countries through social accounting matrices," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 202-209.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lazarevic, David & Aoustin, Emmanuelle & Buclet, Nicolas & Brandt, Nils, 2010. "Plastic waste management in the context of a European recycling society: Comparing results and uncertainties in a life cycle perspective," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 246-259.
    2. Francesco La Barbera & Mario Amato & Roberta Riverso & Fabio Verneau, 2022. "Social Emotions and Good Provider Norms in Tackling Household Food Waste: An Extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-12, August.
    3. Woon, Kok Sin & Lo, Irene M.C., 2016. "An integrated life cycle costing and human health impact analysis of municipal solid waste management options in Hong Kong using modified eco-efficiency indicator," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 104-114.
    4. Thyberg, Krista L. & Tonjes, David J., 2016. "Drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 110-123.
    5. Sahlin, Jenny & Ekvall, Tomas & Bisaillon, Mattias & Sundberg, Johan, 2007. "Introduction of a waste incineration tax: Effects on the Swedish waste flows," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 827-846.
    6. Silvio Franco & Clara Cicatiello, 2018. "Food waste due to over-nutrition in the Italians? dietary habits," RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA', FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 159-180.
    7. Mary Griffin & Jeffery Sobal & Thomas Lyson, 2009. "An analysis of a community food waste stream," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(1), pages 67-81, March.
    8. Gyula Kasza & Annamária Dorkó & Atilla Kunszabó & Dávid Szakos, 2020. "Quantification of Household Food Waste in Hungary: A Replication Study Using the FUSIONS Methodology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-14, April.
    9. Turner, David A. & Williams, Ian D. & Kemp, Simon, 2015. "Greenhouse gas emission factors for recycling of source-segregated waste materials," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 105(PA), pages 186-197.
    10. Hunt, Emily J. & Zhang, Chenlong & Anzalone, Nick & Pearce, Joshua M., 2015. "Polymer recycling codes for distributed manufacturing with 3-D printers," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 24-30.
    11. Fonseca, Jaime R.S., 2014. "A Latent Class Model to discover Household Food Waste Patterns in Lisbon City in Support of Food Security, Public Health and Environmental Protection," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 4(3), pages 1-14, February.
    12. Hottle, Troy A. & Bilec, Melissa M. & Landis, Amy E., 2017. "Biopolymer production and end of life comparisons using life cycle assessment," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 295-306.
    13. Achillas, Ch. & Vlachokostas, Ch. & Moussiopoulos, N. & Banias, G. & Kafetzopoulos, G. & Karagiannidis, A., 2011. "Social acceptance for the development of a waste-to-energy plant in an urban area," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(9), pages 857-863.
    14. Vossberg, Cherilyn & Mason-Jones, Kyle & Cohen, Brett, 2014. "An energetic life cycle assessment of C&D waste and container glass recycling in Cape Town, South Africa," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 39-49.
    15. Arena, Umberto & Di Gregorio, Fabrizio, 2014. "A waste management planning based on substance flow analysis," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 54-66.
    16. Brattebø, Helge & Reenaas, Marte, 2012. "Comparing CO2 and NOX emissions from a district heating system with mass-burn waste incineration versus likely alternative solutions – City of Trondheim, 1986–2009," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 147-158.
    17. Manfredi, Simone & Tonini, Davide & Christensen, Thomas H., 2011. "Environmental assessment of different management options for individual waste fractions by means of life-cycle assessment modelling," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(11), pages 995-1004.
    18. George Tsalis & Birger Boutrup Jensen & S. Wiley Wakeman & Jessica Aschemann-Witzel, 2021. "Promoting Food for the Trash Bin? A Review of the Literature on Retail Price Promotions and Household-Level Food Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-21, April.
    19. Meylan, Grégoire & Ami, Helen & Spoerri, Andy, 2014. "Transitions of municipal solid waste management. Part II: Hybrid life cycle assessment of Swiss glass-packaging disposal," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 16-27.
    20. Eriksson, O. & Baky, A., 2010. "Identification and testing of potential key parameters in system analysis of municipal solid waste management," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1095-1099.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:92:y:2014:i:c:p:214-221. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kai Meng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.