Abstract
This study aims to assess the transportability of food waste disposer particles within a sewer system. A series of laboratory studies has examined the physical characteristics of solid particles derived from domestic food waste disposers. Particle size distributions and maximum settling velocity characteristics were measured for 18 common food types, and stored in a publicly accessible database. Particle size distributions are shown to fit well with a 2-parameter Gamma distribution. Settling velocity is generally higher for larger particles, except when particle density and sphericity change. For most food types, particle specific gravity was close to unity. Egg shell particles had a significantly higher specific gravity. This information, combined with the particle size data have been used to show that there is a very low likelihood of food waste particle deposition in sewers during normal operational flows, other than temporary transient deposits of egg shell particles.
Highlights
There is considerable debate on the best way to manage the disposal of unavoidable domestic food waste, and there is no clear consensus on the optimum approach (e.g. Schanes et al ; Slorach et al )
More than 50% of households in the USA have food waste disposers (American Housing Survey ), in excess of 34% of households in New Zealand, and 10% in Canada
This study aims to assess the transportability of food waste disposer particles within a sewer system
Summary
There is considerable debate on the best way to manage the disposal of unavoidable domestic food waste, and there is no clear consensus on the optimum approach (e.g. Schanes et al ; Slorach et al ). In England, the food waste of more than half of households (54%) is still collected with other solid waste by centralised municipal collection and disposal (WRAP ). In England kerbside collection is seen as the recommended way forward for all domestic food waste by 2023 (Defra Environment Bill ), with resource recovery achieved
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