Analysis of Main Factors on Evaluation and Selection of Wet Waste Disposal Modes: A Case Study of Universities in Shanghai, China

Jihaoming Zou and Zhen Zhang
Additional contact information
Jihaoming Zou: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Zhen Zhang: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-27

Abstract: This paper explores greenhouse gas emission intensity and economy of centralized and on-site wet waste disposal mode, while comprehensively evaluating the two modes for decision-making. Based on the fieldwork in Shanghai’s 20 campuses of 15 universities, multiple scenarios that can reflect the different levels of technology and management in reality, were set for the following studies. The greenhouse gas emissions generated from centralized and on-site disposal modes of wet waste were calculated in two emission scenarios using Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Inventory, and the IPCC 2006 method. Additionally, the continuous cost input from the universities for the two disposal modes was analyzed in three cost-input scenarios using the Net Present Value method. Furthermore, a comprehensive evaluation of the two modes was also conducted by using Analytic Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation under the five main factors of greenhouse gas emission—control, economy, stability, education and innovation, and bargaining power for municipal sanitation departments. The results revealed that the centralized disposal mode is superior to the on-site disposal mode in terms of greenhouse gas emission control and economy. The centralized disposal mode is a more rational choice due to the better comprehensive evaluation performance. It was also emphasized that the construction of the wet waste disposal system is so complicated that the academic community and the policymakers may have to pay more attention to the integration of system design, industrial development, and other aspects of wet waste disposal.

Keywords: wet waste; kitchen waste; food waste; centralized disposal; on-site disposal; greenhouse gas emission; economy; comprehensive evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5373/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5373/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5373-:d:805559

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().