Table 3. Relative environmental... | Emerald Publishing

Table 3.

Relative environmental performance of biowaste management methods

Rank	Method/ configuration	Key advantage	Key drawbacks	References (examples)
1	Integrated AD + composting	Energy and nutrient recovery, low GHG emissions	Requires dual infrastructure	Le Pera et al. (2022)
2	AD	Renewable energy, GHG mitigation	Digestate handling	Lévesque et al. (2023); Nyitrai et al. (2023)
3	Composting	Soil amendment, material recovery	Limited energy recovery	Lévesque et al. (2023); Nyitrai et al. (2023)
4	Incineration with energy recovery	Energy offset	Air emissions, residues	Liu et al. (2017)
5	Sanitary landfilling (with energy recovery)	Energy recovery possible	High GHG and leachate impacts	Cheniti et al. (2024)
6	Unsanitary landfilling / Open dumping		Severe local and global impacts	Cheela et al. (2021); Xiao et al. (2023)

Rank	Method/ configuration	Key advantage	Key drawbacks	References (examples)
1	Integrated AD + composting	Energy and nutrient recovery, low GHG emissions	Requires dual infrastructure	Le Pera et al. (2022)
2	AD	Renewable energy, GHG mitigation	Digestate handling	Lévesque et al. (2023); Nyitrai et al. (2023)
3	Composting	Soil amendment, material recovery	Limited energy recovery	Lévesque et al. (2023); Nyitrai et al. (2023)
4	Incineration with energy recovery	Energy offset	Air emissions, residues	Liu et al. (2017)
5	Sanitary landfilling (with energy recovery)	Energy recovery possible	High GHG and leachate impacts	Cheniti et al. (2024)
6	Unsanitary landfilling / Open dumping		Severe local and global impacts	Cheela et al. (2021); Xiao et al. (2023)