Sustainable organic waste management framework: a case study in Minhang district, Shanghai, China

Abstract

The high rate of population growth along with economic and industrial development especially in city areas have led to significant increase in the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in China. It has been a challenging task for government and municipalities to develop a sustainable solid waste management, especially in the developing countries. Organic waste predominates MSW composition across countries with different level of income. Due to the absence of waste segregation at source, China has 55.86 % of food waste (FW) from MSW with high moisture content. Composting is a viable technology to manage organic waste sustainably by transforming FW into organic fertiliser. This study focuses on the sustainable development of organic waste management model via large-scale FW composting based on a case study in Minhang District, Shanghai, China. The study evaluates the upstream, bio-waste management, and downstream level involved in the organic waste management along with the strategies implemented that will impact the sustainability of the framework, such as waste collection, availability of policy and incentive, the role of authority as well as compost quality and its market. The assessment of the sustainable model of organic waste management can be very beneficial for improving the compost application towards sustainable composting in the developing countries.