Carbon Footprint of Food Waste Management: A Case …
39
Fig. 1 Food supply chain steps and boundaries. Source Based on Behnke and Janssen [3]
From Fig. 1, it is possible to observe the steps of the food supply chain from the
food production until its final consumption. Each step is responsible for food waste
generation, which has an appropriate management until its final destination in landfills. With the objective of GHG emissions evaluation from large waste generation
in urban limits, this chapter provides a carbon footprint analysis of the management
steps of food loss from wholesale market and food waste from retail market, as illustrated by continuous black lines in Fig. 1. As it can be seen, the food waste mass
generated by large-scale generation establishments, such as gross markets, supermarkets and street fairs are considered, where an AD facility could be an opportunity for
decentralized treatment and resources recovery from waste.
Also, this work proposes an evaluation of a current stablished scenario and an
alternative one, where the AD treatment technology is incorporated into the food
waste management. As suggested by the EU Guide for supporting decisions for
waste management [11], because the alternative scenario incorporates a specific type
of food waste treatment, which results in a change in the food waste management
chain, there is no need for calculation of carbon footprint associated with the steps
of the food supply chain.
However, this chapter provides secondary data of GHG emissions based on FAO
[18] according to the agriculture production, which presents an estimation for the
entire Brazil country in the year of 2017. From the total GHG emissions per each
activity of the agriculture sector and the total of each product manipulated, an emission conversion factor was estimated and is presented in Table 1. From that, some
agricultural activities emissions are estimated for the state of Rio de Janeiro. Because
of the lack of specific data for the city of Rio de Janeiro, it is not possible to estimate
39
Fig. 1 Food supply chain steps and boundaries. Source Based on Behnke and Janssen [3]
From Fig. 1, it is possible to observe the steps of the food supply chain from the
food production until its final consumption. Each step is responsible for food waste
generation, which has an appropriate management until its final destination in landfills. With the objective of GHG emissions evaluation from large waste generation
in urban limits, this chapter provides a carbon footprint analysis of the management
steps of food loss from wholesale market and food waste from retail market, as illustrated by continuous black lines in Fig. 1. As it can be seen, the food waste mass
generated by large-scale generation establishments, such as gross markets, supermarkets and street fairs are considered, where an AD facility could be an opportunity for
decentralized treatment and resources recovery from waste.
Also, this work proposes an evaluation of a current stablished scenario and an
alternative one, where the AD treatment technology is incorporated into the food
waste management. As suggested by the EU Guide for supporting decisions for
waste management [11], because the alternative scenario incorporates a specific type
of food waste treatment, which results in a change in the food waste management
chain, there is no need for calculation of carbon footprint associated with the steps
of the food supply chain.
However, this chapter provides secondary data of GHG emissions based on FAO
[18] according to the agriculture production, which presents an estimation for the
entire Brazil country in the year of 2017. From the total GHG emissions per each
activity of the agriculture sector and the total of each product manipulated, an emission conversion factor was estimated and is presented in Table 1. From that, some
agricultural activities emissions are estimated for the state of Rio de Janeiro. Because
of the lack of specific data for the city of Rio de Janeiro, it is not possible to estimate