Cutting GHG Emissions at Student Housing in Central Mexico through Solid Waste Management

Quetzalli Aguilar-Virgen,Liliana Marquez-Benavides,Eduardo Baltierra-Trejo,Paul Taboada-González

doi:10.3390/su9081415

Quetzalli Aguilar-Virgen, Liliana Marquez-Benavides + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081415

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Abstract

Solid waste characterisation studies have been conducted at the household or municipal level, but fewer studies have assessed the composition of solid waste within institutions of higher education or university student residences. Studies carried out in universities usually refer to the academic buildings, yet, reports of waste characterisation from student housing and the associated greenhouse gas emissions are scarce. The goal of this work was to present a study case where both equivalent carbon dioxide (CO2eq) emissions and waste reductions were successfully attained in student housing after implementation of a solid waste management strategy. Two waste characterisation studies were carried out, before and after a waste management program was implemented to reduce waste generation. The waste generation per capita (GPC) per day was estimated at 1.5 kg for the first study (2014) and 1.1 kg for the second (2015); in addition, 87% of the waste stream was diverted from the landfill through vermicomposting and recycling. The percentage of food waste used for vermicomposting was 2.83%. The CO2eq emissions in 2014 were estimated at 12,624 kg CO2eq (0.43 kg/capita/day) and 761 kg for 2015 (0.03 kg/capita/day). Appropriate solid waste management was revealed to have a fundamental role in cutting indirect CO2eq emissions.

Highlights

Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is one of the major environmental challenges in most of the cities of developing countries [1,2]
Comparison with home characterisation studies may be limited. This student housing is inhabited only by men, which explains why particular type of residues associated with children, teens, and women are not present
A study in the USA reported [32] that the university does not track total amounts of waste produced from each building on campus

Summary

Introduction

Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is one of the major environmental challenges in most of the cities of developing countries [1,2]. The large amount of produced waste and, the difficulty involved in eliminating it is still a problem in developed societies [5]. This situation has led to serious consequences for the environment in terms of river and groundwater contamination by landfill leachates, including soil pollution; greenhouse gas emissions; and fauna mortality [2,6]. For this reason, solid waste (SW) generation and its management has been gaining attention across the world

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