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Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Use of LCA to Assess the Environmental Impacts of the Composting Process

Author

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  • Laís Fabiana Serafini

    (Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal)

  • Manuel Feliciano

    (Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
    Laboratório para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal)

  • Manuel Angelo Rodrigues

    (Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
    Laboratório para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal)

  • Artur Gonçalves

    (Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
    Laboratório para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal)

Abstract

Following the industrial revolution, major economic and populational growth took place, and, therefore, solid waste generation increased exponentially. Nowadays, waste management still generates major impacts because the current wide offer of waste management strategies includes many solutions that produce suboptimal results, such as landfill or waste incineration. From a circular economy perspective, composting is a potentially sustainable option to treat the organic fraction of solid waste and has the advantage of recycling many organic compounds that can be reintroduced into the natural processes. This study aimed to provide a meta-analysis using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to evaluate the impacts of composting by performing a systematic literature review of the diversity of approaches and assessing environmental impacts. The results of the impact assessment were highly dependent on the choices made over the system boundary and the functional units. The most cited environmental impacts were Global Warming Potential, Acidification Potential, Eutrophication Potential, Photochemical Oxidation Potential, and Ozone Layer Depletion, as gaseous emissions from the transport and decomposition represent the main contributors to these categories. Using a smaller dataset and evaluating the use of the CML method and the most cited impacts categories, it was found that In-vessel Composting and Home Composting were considered the best environmental options among the studied composting methods. Composting environmental impacts were also highly related to the use of non-renewable energy sources, which puts composting at a disadvantage when compared with the use of anaerobic digestion. Such results emphasize the benefits of using these waste management technologies as complementary instead of substitutes.

Suggested Citation

  • Laís Fabiana Serafini & Manuel Feliciano & Manuel Angelo Rodrigues & Artur Gonçalves, 2023. "Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Use of LCA to Assess the Environmental Impacts of the Composting Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-33, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:1394-:d:1032456
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Blengini, Gian Andrea, 2008. "Using LCA to evaluate impacts and resources conservation potential of composting: A case study of the Asti District in Italy," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 52(12), pages 1373-1381.
    2. Giovanni Mondello & Roberta Salomone & Giuseppe Ioppolo & Giuseppe Saija & Sergio Sparacia & Maria Claudia Lucchetti, 2017. "Comparative LCA of Alternative Scenarios for Waste Treatment: The Case of Food Waste Production by the Mass-Retail Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Quirós, Roberto & Villalba, Gara & Muñoz, Pere & Colón, Joan & Font, Xavier & Gabarrell, Xavier, 2014. "Environmental assessment of two home composts with high and low gaseous emissions of the composting process," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 9-20.
    4. Aisha Al-Rumaihi & Gordon McKay & Hamish R. Mackey & Tareq Al-Ansari, 2020. "Environmental Impact Assessment of Food Waste Management Using Two Composting Techniques," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, February.
    5. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    6. Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo & Manuel Francisco Coelho & Dilber Çağlar Onbaşıoğlu & Husam Rjoub & Mário Nuno Mata & Paulo Viegas Carvalho & João Xavier Rita & Ibrahim Adeshola, 2021. "Modeling the Dynamic Linkage between Renewable Energy Consumption, Globalization, and Environmental Degradation in South Korea: Does Technological Innovation Matter?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-12, July.
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