ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Systems Engineering
This article is part of the Research TopicCutting Edge Reclamation Solutions for Transforming Biodegradable Waste into Sustainable ResourcesView all 4 articles
Comparative Carbon Accounting of Multi-Stream Food Waste Management: Insights from a Megacity Case Study
Provisionally accepted
Guodong Yang1,2
Zuotai Zhang2,3*
Feng Yan2Jianguo Jiang4Yuchen Gao4Shuling Chen3
Fangnon Firmin Fangninou3Xiaoxiang Wang3- 1Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
- 2Southern University of Science and Technology School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shenzhen, China
- 3Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, China
- 4Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Food waste (FW) management can contribute to emission reduction when low-carbon pathways such as anaerobic digestion or composting are adopted instead of landfilling. This study quantified emissions across four treatment modules for five household (HHFW), one kitchen (KW), and two fruit and vegetable (FVW) waste sites. Baseline operations emitted 66,086.2 t CO2, with HHFW and KW contributing 69.9% and 22.9%, respectively. Pollutant treatment dominated (93.4%), mainly from residue and sewage management. FW intensities ranged from 54.34–162.13 kg CO2/t-HHFW, 122.1 kg CO2/t-KW, and 59.2–84.3 kg CO2/t-FVW. Resource recovery presented both offsets and burdens: grease recycling avoided up to −10.87 kg CO2/t-KW, while composting added 74.7 kg CO2/t-FVW. Compared to landfill disposal, the project reduced carbon intensity 7–16 fold, exceeding 800 kg CO2/t at top-performing sites (V1 and H4). Relative to incineration, reductions were smaller and site-dependent, though most treatment streams still achieved net savings. Scenario optimization highlighted the transformative potential of advanced interventions: a Moderate pathway integrating anaerobic acid production (AOP) cut emissions 1.6–1.7 fold, while optimistic pathways, anaerobic digestion (AD) and insect bioconversion (BSFL), achieved net-negative emissions of −308.4 kg CO2/t for HHFW and −117.41 kg CO2/t for FVW, respectively. These findings demonstrate that source separation, targeted resource recovery, and coupling bioenergy with value-added products can convert FW management from a carbon source to a net sink, supporting deep decarbonization strategies.
Keywords: Carbon Footprint, Circular waste management, emission reduction, Food waste streams, resource recovery
Received: 22 Sep 2025; Accepted: 04 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Zhang, Yan, Jiang, Gao, Chen, Fangninou and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zuotai Zhang
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