Environmental Impact Assessment of Food Waste Management Using Two Composting Techniques

Aisha Al-Rumaihi, Gordon McKay, Hamish R. Mackey and Tareq Al-Ansari
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Aisha Al-Rumaihi: Division of Sustainable Development, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha P.O. Box 34110, Qatar
Gordon McKay: Division of Sustainable Development, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha P.O. Box 34110, Qatar
Hamish R. Mackey: Division of Sustainable Development, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha P.O. Box 34110, Qatar
Tareq Al-Ansari: Division of Sustainable Development, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha P.O. Box 34110, Qatar

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-23

Abstract: Food waste is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and therefore global warming. As such, the management of food waste can play a fundamental role in the reduction of preventable emissions associated with food waste. In this study, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to evaluate and compare the environmental impact associated with two composting techniques for treating food waste using SimaPro software; windrow composting and the hybrid anaerobic digestion (AD) method. The study, based on a 1 tonne of food waste as a functional unit for a case study in the State of Qatar, concludes that anaerobic digestion combined composting presents a smaller environmental burden than windrow composting. The majority of the emissions generated are due to the use of fossil fuels during transportation, which correspond to approximately 60% of the total impact, followed by the impact of composting with 40% of the impact especially in terms of global warming potential. Environmental assessment impacts were the highest in windrow composting for the acidification impact category (9.39 × 10 − 1 kg SO 2 eq). While for AD combined composting the impact was highest for the human toxicity impact category (3.47 × 10 kg 1,4 − DB eq).

Keywords: life cycle assessment; composting; anaerobic digestion; greenhouse gases; waste management; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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