Life cycle climate change mitigation through next-generation urban waste recovery systems in high-density Asian cities: A Singapore Case Study

Harn Wei Kua, Xin He, Hailin Tian, Abhimanyu Goel, Tingting Xu, Wen Liu, Dingding Yao, Srikkanth Ramachandran, Xiao Liu, Yen Wah Tong, Yanjun Dai, Yinghong Peng, Chi Hwa Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The potential of implementing waste recovery strategies on three kinds of waste – food, sewage, and plastic – in reducing waste-related greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore was evaluated using life cycle assessment. It was found that the proposed strategies are capable of reducing 1,087.80 kgCO2-eq per tonne of plastic waste, 53.00 kgCO2-eq per tonne of food waste, and 43.86 kgCO2-eq for the combination of one tonne of sewage waste and one tonne of food waste. When uncertainties of the three waste streams were considered in sensitivity analysis and projections of waste quantities to 2025 were performed up to a 95% confidence level, it was found that the proposed strategies could reduce about 37.13% of the GHG emissions from the business-as-usual disposal waste technology (that is, incineration). This corresponds to an average reduction of 0.53 million tonnes CO2-eq per year, which is equivalent to the annual GHG emissions from electricity consumptions of 256,322 households in Singapore.

Original languageEnglish
Article number106265
JournalResources, Conservation and Recycling
Volume181
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Waste Management and Disposal
  • Economics and Econometrics

Keywords

  • Anaerobic digestion
  • Co-digestion
  • Integrated waste management
  • Pyrolysis
  • Waste recycling

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