Publication detail

Energy-Emission-Waste Nexus of Food Deliveries in China

Jia, X. Klemes, J.J. Varbanov, P.S. Wan Alwi, S. R.

Original Title

Energy-Emission-Waste Nexus of Food Deliveries in China

Type

conference paper

Language

English

Original Abstract

Door-to-door cooked food deliveries are booming in China, so are the food packaging waste and the related environmental issues. This paper aims to overview the waste flows generated from the food delivery processes - including food packaging and delivery, which is followed by an analysis of the energy consumption and emissions of the waste treatment and the delivery. Based on the overview, this paper provides benchmarking of the energy consumption and emissions within the food delivery in China, which can be helpful for further studies regarding the energy minimisation and environmental impact mitigation in the food delivery supply chain. The results showed that in 2016, the waste generation of door-to-door cooked food deliveries in China was 1.68 Mt, including 1.33 Mt plastic waste and 0.35 Mt of wooden chopsticks, which has not been properly recycled and/or reused. In 2016, the energy consumption for treating the food package waste is 58.89 GWhe, and the electricity needed for charging the electric bikes is 14.93 GWhe. The number of spent batteries from the delivery processes, deposited to waste, was 19,507, including 17,285 lead-acid batteries. The estimated GHG emission of energy consumption is 73.89 Gt CO2eq. The conclusions are that the amount of waste from food deliveries is remarkable and still increasing. Encouraging the use of biodegradable food packaging can be helpful for reducing energy consumption and emissions of waste treatment. The energy consumption and GHG emissions covering the whole supply chain of food deliveries should be further discussed.

Keywords

Energy utilization; Environmental impact; Greenhouse gases; Lead acid batteries; Packaging; Packaging machines; Supply chains; Biodegradable food packaging; Delivery process; Energy emissions; Energy minimisation; Environmental issues; Reducing energy consumption; Spent batteries; Waste generation; Waste treatment

Authors

Jia, X.; Klemes, J.J.; Varbanov, P.S.; Wan Alwi, S. R.

Released

1. 8. 2018

Publisher

Italian Association of Chemical Engineering - AIDIC

ISBN

2283-9216

Periodical

Chemical Engineering Transactions

Year of study

70

Number

70

State

Republic of Italy

Pages from

661

Pages to

666

Pages count

6

BibTex

@inproceedings{BUT152199,
  author="Jia, X. and Klemes, J.J. and Varbanov, P.S. and Wan Alwi, S. R.",
  title="Energy-Emission-Waste Nexus of Food Deliveries in China",
  booktitle="Chemical Engineering Transactions",
  year="2018",
  journal="Chemical Engineering Transactions",
  volume="70",
  number="70",
  pages="661--666",
  publisher="Italian Association of Chemical Engineering - AIDIC",
  doi="10.3303/CET1870111",
  issn="2283-9216"
}