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Food waste in Beijing - life cycle assessment approach to estimating the environmental impact and resource utilization of various alternatives for food waste treatment in Beijing

Ek, Anna LU (2017) FMIL01 20171
Environmental and Energy Systems Studies
Abstract
Around the world, the treatment of food waste is a major administrative and environmental problem
throughout the food supply chain. Beijing, as any other mega city, is facing vast issues of sustainable food
waste treatment in addition to efforts for food waste reduction. Presently the majority of Beijing's food
waste is treated together with the mixed residual waste in landfills (53%) and incinerators (43%) with only
4.3 % of the food waste being organically recycled. This despite the majority of Beijing's municipal
solid waste being food waste. Beijing is quickly developing its incineration capacity due to the volume
reduction and energy recovery potential.
Treating the food waste with anaerobic digestion could provide an... (More)
Around the world, the treatment of food waste is a major administrative and environmental problem
throughout the food supply chain. Beijing, as any other mega city, is facing vast issues of sustainable food
waste treatment in addition to efforts for food waste reduction. Presently the majority of Beijing's food
waste is treated together with the mixed residual waste in landfills (53%) and incinerators (43%) with only
4.3 % of the food waste being organically recycled. This despite the majority of Beijing's municipal
solid waste being food waste. Beijing is quickly developing its incineration capacity due to the volume
reduction and energy recovery potential.
Treating the food waste with anaerobic digestion could provide an alternative waste-to-energy method
which includes resource recycling. Demands for the by-products of anaerobic digestion appear to increase
as demand for natural gas and demand for organic produce is predicted to increase in China.
The software WAMPS (Waste Management Planning System) is used to investigate six scenarios for
the various possibilities of future food waste treatment in Beijing using a life cycle perspective. The
scenarios are modelled after a goal scenario where 50% of the food waste is recycled and a half way
scenarios between present situation and the goal. The study concludes that incineration is the most
environmentally friendly alternative but foremost shows a lot of room for improvement for the present
management system. The results are largely influenced by the coal based electricity production in China
which causes severe environmental problems and offers great environmental advantages when reduced and
replaced with cleaner electricity. The case study does not consider the sustainable use of resources, only
eutrophication, acidification, greenhouse gas emissions, and photo oxidant formation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ek, Anna LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Matavfallshantering i Peking
course
FMIL01 20171
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Food waste management, Anaerobic digestion, Life cycle perspective, Beijing, China, WAMPS, Waste management planning system
report number
ISRN LUTFD2/TFEM- 17/5124
ISSN
1102-3651
language
English
id
8926034
date added to LUP
2017-10-10 08:13:31
date last changed
2017-12-15 10:46:33
@misc{8926034,
  abstract     = {{Around the world, the treatment of food waste is a major administrative and environmental problem
throughout the food supply chain. Beijing, as any other mega city, is facing vast issues of sustainable food
waste treatment in addition to efforts for food waste reduction. Presently the majority of Beijing's food
waste is treated together with the mixed residual waste in landfills (53%) and incinerators (43%) with only
4.3 % of the food waste being organically recycled. This despite the majority of Beijing's municipal
solid waste being food waste. Beijing is quickly developing its incineration capacity due to the volume
reduction and energy recovery potential.
Treating the food waste with anaerobic digestion could provide an alternative waste-to-energy method
which includes resource recycling. Demands for the by-products of anaerobic digestion appear to increase
as demand for natural gas and demand for organic produce is predicted to increase in China.
The software WAMPS (Waste Management Planning System) is used to investigate six scenarios for
the various possibilities of future food waste treatment in Beijing using a life cycle perspective. The
scenarios are modelled after a goal scenario where 50% of the food waste is recycled and a half way
scenarios between present situation and the goal. The study concludes that incineration is the most
environmentally friendly alternative but foremost shows a lot of room for improvement for the present
management system. The results are largely influenced by the coal based electricity production in China
which causes severe environmental problems and offers great environmental advantages when reduced and
replaced with cleaner electricity. The case study does not consider the sustainable use of resources, only
eutrophication, acidification, greenhouse gas emissions, and photo oxidant formation.}},
  author       = {{Ek, Anna}},
  issn         = {{1102-3651}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Food waste in Beijing - life cycle assessment approach to estimating the environmental impact and resource utilization of various alternatives for food waste treatment in Beijing}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}