Environmental and economic impact assessment of synergistic organic-waste treatment strategies in eco-industrial parks: A pilot-scale case study in Shenzhen, China

The acceleration of urbanization has posed significant challenges for the urban organic-waste treatment in megacities and large cities of developing countries. Synergistic organic-waste treatment in eco-industrial parks is essential for achieving China's “zero-waste” and ambitious low-carbon targets. However, the environmental impact and benefit evaluation of synergistic organic-waste treatment in eco-industrial parks remain unclear. In this study, life cycle assessment methods were applied for the environmental management of a newly developed eco-industrial park for synergistic organic-waste treatment in Shenzhen city, China, with a population of 20 million. The synergistic eco-industrial park alleviated the direct and indirect environmental impacts of waste treatment and increased the profit, owing to the electricity recovery, fewer transportation activities, and co-composting treatment. A 38.8–88.2% decrease was observed in the environmental impacts of unit capacity in the synergistic mode compared to the independent mode. Moreover, the profit in the synergistic mode was 2 times higher than in the case with independent plants. Overall, synergistic organic-waste treatment facilities can be incorporated in industrial parks to treat organic waste in an effective and environmentally friendly manner. These findings can provide novel insights for understanding synergistic organic-waste treatment in eco-industrial parks and enhancing the low-carbon performance of megacities and large cities. [Display omitted] •Synergistic organic-waste treatment strategies in eco-industrial parks were studied.•The synergistic mode could foster industrial symbiosis and increase stability.•The synergistic mode could efficiently alleviate the environmental impacts.•The profit of the synergistic mode was 1.9 times that in conventional mode.