Environmental impact of Oaxaca cheese production and wastewater from artisanal dairies under two scenarios in Aculco, State of Mexico

Abstract

The environmental impacts in the artisan cheese sector in the central region of Mexico provide a particular panorama of the environmental situation of this industry. The objective of this study was to evaluate environmental impacts through a life cycle analysis in 10 impact categories: global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, fine particle formation, ozone formation, terrestrial ecosystems, terrestrial acidification, eutrophication of fresh water, terrestrial ecotoxicity, human ecotoxicity. non-carcinogenic toxicity, scarcity of fossil resources and water consumption. And the calculation of the carbon footprint with the IPCC, 2013 of 1 kg of Oaxaca cheese in four dairies artisanal in the State of Mexico. The main hotspots were whey, transportation, and electricity. The reduction of the impact generated by wastewater can be associated with the implementation and improvement of eco-innovations such as the use of biodigesters, however their use generates impacts on SOD, TA, FA, TEc and FRs due to the composition of the whey residue. The renewal of refrigeration equipment is another alternative to reduce electricity consumption, which on average consumes 0.04 kWh per one kg of Oaxaca cheese in cheese factories that have new refrigerators, and 0.14 kWh when refrigerators are reused, mainly impacting the FRs.The average carbon footprint of Oaxaca cheese was 15.6 CO 2 kg eq, which allows us to have a measure of the behavior of this food. A sensitivity analysis was carried out with different scenarios with wastewater where it was found that the handling of whey is essential for reducing impacts.