Megacity's pathway toward sustainable food waste management and its environmental performance in a developing country: Evidence from Shanghai, China

Due to the far distance impact on resident, aquatic and soil ecosystem health, food waste disposal becomes the focus of municipal waste strategy in developing countries. Shanghai is a leading city in China, its evolution of food waste management can indicate the coming future of the nation. In this city, from 1986 to 2020, the open dumping, landfill and incineration of food waste had been gradually banned, replaced by centralized compost and anaerobic digestion and other recovery ways. This study selected ten scenarios, ever used for food/mixed waste disposal in Shanghai, and analyzed the environmental impact change during the period 1986–2020. Life cycle assessment showed that although the generation of food waste raised rapidly, the total environmental impact, which was dominated by Freshwater Aquatic Ecotoxicity Potential, displayed a sharp decrease as 96.09 %, and Global Warming Potential decreased by 28.14 %. Substantial efforts should be made to improve the collection rate of biogas and landfill gas to reduce environmental impact, and quality of residues from anaerobic digestion and compost plants should be improved and utilized in its legal ways. Driving forces for the goal of sustainable food waste management in Shanghai involved economic development, environmental regulations and the supporting national/local standards. [Display omitted] •The pathway toward sustainable management of food waste was demonstrated from open dump to biogas generation in Shanghai from 1986 to 2020•The environmental impact was dominated by freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential and decreased by 96.09%•Driving forces involved economic development, environmental regulations, and the matched national / local standards