Food waste generation in a university and the handling efficiency of a university catering facility-scale automatic collection system

Kwok Wai Mui, Ling Tim Wong, Tsz Wun Tsang, Yin Hei Chiu, Kai Wing Lai

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)297-315
Number of pages19
JournalFacilities
Volume40
Issue number5-6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Feb 2022

Keywords

  • Automatic collection system
  • Consumption waste
  • Food waste collection
  • Food waste generation
  • Preparation waste
  • University catering facilities

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Human Factors and Ergonomics
  • Architecture
  • Building and Construction

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