Table 2.

Overview of biowaste management methods in reviewed LCA studies

MethodDescription/ typical configurationMain outputsNo. of studiesReferences (examples)
Anaerobic digestion (AD)Centralised or decentralised; wet/dry, mono/co-digestionBiogas, digestate192Righi et al. (2013); Nyitrai et al. (2023) 
CompostingCentralised or decentralised; windrow, in-vessel, static pile, etc.Compost176De Boni et al. (2022); Jalalipour et al. (2024) 
Integration of AD with compostingComposting of digestateEnergy, nutrient39Garkoti and Thengane (2025); Mancini et al. (2019) 
LandfillingSanitary/unsanitary; with or without energy recoveryCH4, leachate134Liu et al. (2017) 
IncinerationWith or without energy recovery (WtE)Heat, electricity125Cheniti et al. (2024) 
Biorefinery-based productionConversion of residues to materials/fuelsFeed, fertiliser, chemicals24Sarkar et al. (2023); Siddiqui et al. (2021); Zilia et al. (2023) 
Mechanical-biological treatment (MBT)Pre-treatment for refuse-derived fuel (RDF) productionRDF15Boer et al. (2021); Mayer et al. (2021) 
Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC)Thermochemical conversion to hydrocharBio-solid fuel4Espinoza Pérez et al. (2022) 
Insect-based bioconversionBlack soldier fly larvae compostingProtein, feed, fertiliser8Salomone et al. (2017); Ferronato et al. (2024) 
Open dumpingUncontrolled disposal 11Cheela et al. (2021); Xiao et al. (2023) 
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