Environmental performance analysis of three organic waste disposal scenarios: landfilling, composting, and EP-50

Abstract

The rapid increase in the population, urbanization, increasing standard of living, indifference, and other factors can be used to explain the concerning rate of waste generation. Research suggests that most countries prefer to process and dispose of their waste via open dumping or landfilling due to its affordability and simple mechanism. However, leachate and landfill gas emissions present environmental risks associated with landfilling. To prevent landfilling’s detrimental impacts on the ecosystem, alternative methods of disposing of organic waste need to be investigated. An environmental impact analysis was undertaken utilizing the openLCA software to evaluate the ecological footprints of three distinct waste management strategies i.e., Landfilling, Composting, and composting using EP-50 assessing four key environmental indicators. Composting using EP-50 (EcoProbe 50) is a recent advancement towards waste management where organic waste is turned to compost artificially under high temperature and pressure along with constant mixing and churning of the waste for better nutrient value. The EP-50 composter, according to our research hypothesis, offers a greener option to conventional landfilling and composting. We evaluated the potential for global warming, acidification, eutrophication, and human toxicity of landfilling, conventional composting, and EP-50 composting utilizing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). According to our findings, the EP-50 system minimizes the potential for global warming to around 420 kgCO2 eq in comparison to 1243 kgCO2 eq from conventional composting and 4653 kgCO2 eq for landfilling. In addition, EP-50 increases the amount of nutrients in the compost generated while reducing the effects of eutrophication and acidification by more than 15%. These results demonstrate EP-50 as a scalable and effective method for managing organic waste.