Food Waste Treatment and The Effect of Composting on The Gambia's Carbon Footprint

Abstract

In The Gambia, about 35% of food is wasted, making it the most significant contributor to municipal solid waste. Food waste presents unique challenges for conventional waste treatment techniques because of its high moisture, oil content, and changeable composition. Food waste is disposed of in landfills, significantly raising the carbon footprint and producing greenhouse gases. Two treatment methods successfully utilized to treat and manage leftover food are anaerobic digestion and composting. This study provides a brief overview of the effects of composting food waste on carbon footprint in The Gambia, paving the path for future research on the benefits of composting along with other food waste treatment methods including anaerobic digestion. It determined The Gambia's altered carbon footprint due to diverting food waste using carbon calculation over lifecycle version 2 (CCaLC2) software. Food waste composting lowered The Gambia's overall carbon footprint by 2.58 and 2.53 megatons of CO2 in 2019 and 2020, which were accounted for roughly 20% and 22% of the country's total municipal solid waste footprint respectively. The carbon footprint statistics were compared to the data from Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea, and Sierra Leone to demonstrate the significant efficacy of composting in The Gambia.