Beyond trade-offs: Synergetic environmental-economic benefits from food waste management towards circular economy

Traditional waste management systems often necessitate trade-offs between environmental and economic objectives when designing municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment infrastructure. While effective food waste (FW) utilization is critical for advancing circular economy (CE) principles, single-process assessments typically reveal conflicts between environmental benefits and economic constraints. Taking Shenzhen as a case study, this research challenges this conventional perspective by developing an integrated life-cycle analysis framework to evaluate system-wide impacts of separate FW utilization. The analysis demonstrates that FW segregation and valorization generate synergistic effects when accounting for interdependencies among treatment technologies. The overall energy recovery of the MSW treatment system was enhanced, maximumly reducing global warming potential by 116.6 kg CO 2 eq/t and LCC by 44.3 CNY/t. Correlation analysis between environmental and economic performance identified two fundamental strategies to improve system-wide performance as minimizing direct emissions and maximizing energy recovery. Sensitivity results further emphasize the inextricable linkage between source reduction and terminal resource utilization, underscoring the necessity of integrated system design. Municipal authorities should prioritize integrated governance and cross-departmental coordination to unify environmental, economic, and social objectives in waste management, while robust economic incentives, enhanced market confidence and active public participation are essential to accelerate CE transitions.