Food waste generation in a university and the handling efficiency of a university catering facility-scale automatic collection system
ISSN: 0263-2772
Article publication date: 10 January 2022
Issue publication date: 21 February 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the generation of food waste in a university and the handling efficiency of an automatic waste collection system.
Design/methodology/approach
The quantity of food waste generated and collected from a university canteen was surveyed. The food waste handling efficiencies using manual collection strategy and automated food waste collection system were determined by the density of food waste. Life-cycle costing analysis was done to evaluate the economic impacts of various food waste collection methods.
Findings
As compared with the manual collection approach, the automatic system can improve the food waste handling efficiency by 30% (from 0.01 to 0.007 bin kg−1) and reduce the water use by 20% (from 0.512 to 0.406 L kg−1); however, it also consumes 4.4 times more energy (from 0.005 to 0.027 kWh kg−1). Under ideal system operation, the 10-year cost of food waste collection was significantly reduced from $3.45 kg−1 in the manual collection to $1.79 kg−1, and the payback period of the system collection was 1.9 years without discount.
Practical implications
The outcomes of this study show that an automatic food waste collection system is feasible, and it is recommended for small- and medium-sized catering facilities (e.g. canteens and food courts) to improve food waste handling efficiency. This study also provides useful reference data of automatic food waste collection systems for planning food waste management programs for catering facilities.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the waste handling efficiency, operational expenditure and life-cycle cost of a small-scale automatic food waste collection system.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The work described in this paper was supported by a grant from The Recycling Fund, Hong Kong Productivity Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), China (Project Reference: ISP-1617–06-001). Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material/event do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Advisory Committee on Recycling Fund or the Recycling Fund Secretariat.
Citation
Mui, K.W., Wong, L.T., Tsang, T.-W., Chiu, Y.H. and Lai, K.-W. (2022), "Food waste generation in a university and the handling efficiency of a university catering facility-scale automatic collection system", Facilities, Vol. 40 No. 5/6, pp. 297-315. https://doi.org/10.1108/F-01-2021-0002
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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