Optimizing emissions and carbon credit from integrated solid waste and wastewater management: A MATLAB-based model...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Sustainable Resource Management
• Computational Sustainability

Background:

• Current solid waste and wastewater management often operate in silos, hindering holistic emissions optimization.
• Integrating food waste disposer (FWD) policies requires a comprehensive approach to lifecycle emissions and costs.
• Decision-makers need advanced tools for effective environmental mitigation expenditure allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a new software for optimizing the lifecycle emissions of integrated solid waste and wastewater management.
• To provide a unified platform for analyzing the economic and policy implications of FWD implementation.
• To support decision-making in developed and developing economies for emissions mitigation.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel software integrating solid waste and wastewater management systems.
• Implementation of tools for lifecycle emissions accounting and optimization.
• Inclusion of economic, policy, and sensitivity analysis features with a flexible graphical user interface.

Main Results:

• The software successfully integrates solid waste and wastewater management under a single framework.
• It enables detailed lifecycle emissions accounting, optimization, and economic analysis, including carbon credit costs.
• The user interface allows for process selection, parameter modification, and emissions disaggregation.

Conclusions:

• The developed software is the first to combine integrated solid waste and wastewater management for FWD policy analysis.
• It offers a flexible and comprehensive platform for optimizing emissions and informing expenditure allocation for mitigation.
• The tool is applicable globally, assisting decision-makers in achieving sustainable environmental management.