Chula model for sustainable municipal solid waste management in university canteens

Abstract

Managing the large amount and variety of waste produced by university canteens is challenging. This study used life cycle assessment (LCA) to investigate sustainable municipal solid waste (MSW) management solutions for Chulalongkorn University (CU) canteens. This study assessed three scenarios for MSW management in CU canteens: the past scenario (prior to the Chula Zero Waste Project in 2016; S1); the current scenario (2017–2021, when the Chula Zero Waste Project’s MSW management system was used; S2); and the future scenario (after 2021 with the new MSW management option for CU canteens under Chula Zero Waste; S3). The obtained results were characterized by eight impact categories: climate change, ozone depletion, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, human toxicity, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, and fossil depletion. The LCA results show that the future scenario (S3) under the Chula Zero Waste Project is sustainable for MSW management. The most environmentally sustainable MSW plan for CU canteens is to reduce, separate it at the source, and reuse materials instead of landfilling mixed waste.