Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cost-benefit of on-site food waste recycling system using Life-Cycle Cost analysis, and to compare with large-scale treatment system. For accurate evaluation, the cost-benefit analysis was conducted with respect to local governments and residents, and qualitative environmental improvement effects were quantified. As for the local governments, analysis results showed that, when large-scale treatment system was replaced with on-site recycling system, there was significant cost reduction from the initial stage depending on reduction of investment, maintenance, and food wastewater treatment costs. As for the residents, it was found that the cost incurred from using the on-site recycling system was larger than the cost of using large-scale treatment system due to the cost of producing and installing the on-site treatment facilities at the initial stage. However, analysis showed that with continuous benefits such as greenhouse gas emission reduction, compost utilization, and food wastewater reduction, cost reduction would be obtained after 6 years of operating the on-site recycling system. Therefore, it was recommended for local governments and residents to consider introducing an on-site food waste recycling system if they are to replace an old treatment system or need to establish a new one.
Highlights
The daily generation of food waste in South Korea is 13,209 t in 2014 (48,728 t/day), accounting for approximately 30% of total municipal waste [1,2]
The environmental benefits of on-site recycling systems are expected to be large because they generate less food wastewater and greenhouse gas emissions compared to the existing large-scale treatment systems, but previous studies on the economic efficiency evaluation failed to appropriately reflect benefits due to resource circulation [18,19]
In the case of local governments, data related to radio-frequency identification (RFID) device installation, telecommunication information management, and consumables and maintenance were collected at the separation/discharge stage
Summary
The daily generation of food waste in South Korea is 13,209 t in 2014 (48,728 t/day), accounting for approximately 30% of total municipal waste [1,2]. Food wastewater of high concentration is generated during washing and dehydration to remove salt during treatment, which increases the operating cost of the connected wastewater treatment plants as well as sludge generation [7] To solve such problems, on-site recycling systems, which recycle food waste through small-scale devices without collection and transportation and consume the byproducts on-site, have recently been studied and introduced. The environmental benefits of on-site recycling systems are expected to be large because they generate less food wastewater and greenhouse gas emissions compared to the existing large-scale treatment systems, but previous studies on the economic efficiency evaluation failed to appropriately reflect benefits due to resource circulation [18,19]. The qualitative environmental improvement effects, such as food wastewater reduction, byproduct utilization, and community activation, were indirectly quantified by environmental cost analysis (e.g., greenhouse gas emission trading prices and emission charges) as well as surveys
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