Decision-Making Process in the Circular Economy: A Case Study on University Food Waste-to-Energy Actions in Latin America

Abstract

Economies have begun to shift from linear to circular, adopting, among others, waste-to-energy approaches. Waste management is known to be a paramount challenge, and food waste (FW) in particular, has gained the interest of several actors due to its potential impacts and energy recovery opportunities. However, the selection of alternative valorization scenarios can pose several queries in certain contexts. This paper evaluates four FW valorization scenarios based on anaerobic digestion and composting, in comparison to landfilling, by applying a consistent decision-making framework through a combination of linear programming, Life Cycle Thinking (LCT), and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The evaluation was built upon a case study of five universities in Costa Rica and portrayed the trade-offs between environmental impacts and cost categories from the scenarios and their side flows. Results indicate that the landfill scenario entails higher Global Warming Potential and Fresh Water Eutrophication impacts than the valorization scenarios; however, other impact categories and costs are affected. Centralized recovery facilities can increase the Global Warming Potential and the Land Use compared to semi-centralized ones. Experts provided insights, regarding the ease of adoption of composting, in contrast to the potential of energy sources substitution and economic savings from anaerobic digestion.

Sustainability and Circular Economy of Food Wastes: Waste Reduction Strategies, Higher Recycling Methods, and Improved Valorization

“…The outcomes demonstrated that the waste landfill scenario entails a greater global warming potential and freshwater Eutrophication impact than valorization scenarios. However, other impact divisions and costs are affected (Brenes-Peralta et al 2020). In the same vein, Keng et al performed a life cycle estimate advanced case study at the University of Nottingham Malaysia about composting food waste (Keng et al 2020).…”

Waste Management. The Disconnection between Normative and SMEs Reality

“…When the regulations are flexible, and adapted to the SMEs characteristics (thus supported and encouraged by government actions), competitive advantages and differentiation through environmental actions can be obtained [69]. Unfortunately, Latin American studies on environmental issues have focused mainly on waste generation, composition analysis, and decision-making approaches [70]. The latter is a pending topic for effectively assuming the country's environmental challenges.…”

Food Loss and Waste Actions: Experiences of the Costa Rican Food Loss and Waste Reduction Network

“…In this sense, the universities' subcase suggests how monitoring and inference of causes in university populations can aid future decisionmaking and awareness-raising. FLW interventions are present in many studies from educational institutions [36,41,42] around the world. For instance, appreciations from the interviewees are supported by literature when considering the multidimensional reasons for their FLW: the size of servings, type of food that is wasted, and meal schedules play a significant role in the FLW behavior [42,43].…”