Environmental and economic impact assessment of synergistic organic-waste treatment strategies in eco-industrial parks: A pilot-scale case study in Shenzhen, China

Abstract

The acceleration of urbanization has posed significant challenges for the urban organic-waste treatment in megacities and large cities of developing countries. Synergistic organic-waste treatment in eco-industrial parks is essential for achieving China's “zero-waste” and ambitious low-carbon targets. However, the environmental impact and benefit evaluation of synergistic organic-waste treatment in eco-industrial parks remain unclear. In this study, life cycle assessment methods were applied for the environmental management of a newly developed eco-industrial park for synergistic organic-waste treatment in Shenzhen city, China, with a population of 20 million. The synergistic eco-industrial park alleviated the direct and indirect environmental impacts of waste treatment and increased the profit, owing to the electricity recovery, fewer transportation activities, and co-composting treatment. A 38.8–88.2% decrease was observed in the environmental impacts of unit capacity in the synergistic mode compared to the independent mode. Moreover, the profit in the synergistic mode was 2 times higher than in the case with independent plants. Overall, synergistic organic-waste treatment facilities can be incorporated in industrial parks to treat organic waste in an effective and environmentally friendly manner. These findings can provide novel insights for understanding synergistic organic-waste treatment in eco-industrial parks and enhancing the low-carbon performance of megacities and large cities.