Integrated municipal solid waste management scheme of Hong Kong: A comprehensive analysis in terms of global warming potential and energy use. (10th July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Iqbal, Asad; Zan, Feixiang; Liu, Xiaoming; Chen, Guang-Hao
• Is Part Of: Journal of cleaner production. Volume 225(2019)
• Page Start: 1079
• Page End: 1088
• Publication Date: 2019-07-10
• Subjects: Municipal solid waste -- Landfilling -- Thermal treatment -- Biological treatment -- Greenhouse gas emissions -- Resource recovery; Factory and trade waste -- Management -- Periodicals; Manufactures -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Déchets industriels -- Gestion -- Périodiques; Usines -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; 628.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.034
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-6526

Abstract

Abstract: The climate and energy nexus have drawn global attention towards sustainable solutions for synthetic processes, such as waste management. Innovative policies can amend waste management systems to be more sustainable, as in Hong Kong, where besides the conventional landfilling, alternatives like incineration and biological treatment methods are being considered to develop an integrated system. However, the outcomes appear uncertain and need to be analysed for best possible integration. This study proposes a customized methodology for impact assessment of these waste treatment technologies and evaluates five integrated scenarios in terms of net greenhouse gas emissions (GHEs) and energy use by applying classified modelling approaches. The baseline results revealed that compared to the landfilling alone, integration of landfilling with combined anaerobic digestion and composting (ADC) reduced up to 56% of net GHEs. Incineration with ADC saved up to 87% GHEs and ranked as the best-case scenario in both impact categories. Considering carbon sequestration as a credit suggested that landfill-linked scenarios were suitable for GHEs saving, while landfilling alone remained the worst case. The uncertainty propagation and sensitivity analysis revealed that some key parameters can alter the ranking order of scenarios, when variated by the reported uncertainty. The study provides useful modelling insights into the critical nature of these technologies and can be considered as a decision-making tool locally, as well as a generic calculation template. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Any integration of municipal solid waste treatment methods is favourable than landfilling alone. Food waste treatment in combined anaerobic digestion and composting can save up to 56% of landfill greenhouse emissions. Integrated incineration and combined anaerobic digestion and composting recover maximum resources and can save up to 87% greenhouse emissions. With carbon sequestration credit, integration of landfilling with anaerobic digestion can achieve a negative carbon footprint. Producing compost from food waste sludge takes around 20% more energy than sludge landfilling.